Forever
by dncnmndy
Summary: The Rangers investigate a string of home invasions that hit too close for some of their own.
1. Chapter 1

So, I know this is super short, but it's just an introduction. The chapters will get longer, I promise. Thanks to moviemom44 for encouraging me to get a new story up. Let me know what you think!

* * *

"We're going to have to send someone in." Gage said gravely.

"Gage, the last person that went undercover didn't make it out alive. He only lasted three weeks." Sydney implored.

"Syd, it's not like we have much choice. Carr is too careful; he's not giving us anything." Gage argued.

"So we're going to send someone to the slaughter? There's got to be another way." Sydney was adamant.

"Guys, stop." Trivette leaned back in his chair running his hands down his face. He looked at Sydney. "We're not sending anyone in right now. If we do, they won't be without backup. Right now, I want you and Gage to look more into Carr's associates. Something tells me we're only at the tip of the iceberg on this one."

Appeased, Sydney nodded and retreated to her desk with Gage trailing behind her. Trivette stared after them. They'd been bickering more than ever these last few months. Before, it had been different, not bickering, more teasing. Things they said were accompanied with a cheeky grin or a friendly punch on the arm. Now, it was different. Their voices were tense and sharp, snapping at the smallest disagreement. Trivette remembered the days when he thought they were going to get married. Now, it looked doubtful that they could even remain friends. They were overly cordial; they didn't talk about anything other than work. The worst thing was, Trivette didn't know how to reach them, though it wasn't for lack of trying. He and Gage had gone for drinks, but Gage had only gotten drunk and rambled about everything except Sydney. Or Walker. He didn't talk about Walker either.

Walker. That was really where it all started, Trivette knew it. He chanced a surreptitious glance at Walker's empty desk. And not just empty in the sense that Walker wasn't there, but empty in the sense that none of his stuff was there either. No phone, no files, no picture of Alex. It was so hard to think about the fact that Walker wasn't just going to come through the door and hang up his hat before settling in at his desk. It had been far too long since Trivette had been able to crack a joke about the Cherokee instinct he was adamant Walker had. He realized on a daily basis how much he had taken for granted. He'd been blessed with a great partner, one that always had his back. He had a sounding board for whatever was on his mind. He had someone to bounce ideas off of and test theories on. And now he didn't. He took also took for granted just how hard Walker's job was. Being in charge put him in a constant battle with himself. Who should he send where? Who should question who? How could he send Gage or Sydney into a situation he knew was dangerous?

Of course, he still got an immense amount of satisfaction out of his job. Every drug dealer or murderer they put behind bars was one less on the streets. It made him feel good to know that they were making a difference. And yet, he hated the politics. Dealing with judges and attorneys made him want to pound his head against a wall. Alex had been so good at procuring warrants when they needed them. He smiled at the numerous memories of Walker saying "Alex, go wake up a judge." "I know, I know." She'd reply.

Trivette smiled at the image he'd conjured in his head. The smile faded at the realization that that mental picture would never actually be reality again.

"Trivette. Trivette. Trivette!" he jerked as he realized Sydney was saying his name.

"Yeah, what do you have?" he shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Okay, Carr's cellmate from Huntsville is still there. Apparently, he's willing to talk. We thought we'd go down and have a chat with him." She was looking at him strangely; he tried again to make his face neutral.

"Okay, you guys do that. Give me a call when you're done." She nodded at him and grabbed her jacket, Gage did the same and they exited.

Trivette grabbed the case file and perused it some more. James Carr, known on the street as Jamie. One of the newer dealers on the scene, he was rumored to control a lot of the crystal meth market in Dallas and other parts of Texas. His competition was disappearing rapidly without a trace. Jamie, of course, was the prime suspect in these disappearances, though there was no evidence to support this theory. They didn't know much about him at all, in fact. He'd been brought in for questioning by the DEA, who got nowhere; his lawyers had him out before they could even get him to sign his understanding of his Miranda rights. The DEA had, in turn, shoved Jamie Carr off onto the Texas Rangers, who had sent Ranger Gregory Williamson undercover as a low level dealer. They'd found his body three weeks later. Since then, Trivette had pulled back, eased the pressure off Carr. Right now, he figured he needed to lull Carr into a false sense of security before they could go at him again. So for now, they were focusing on his street dealers, trying to bust them and get them to roll on Carr. Many of them were reluctant to do so, they were all scared. Threats of Huntsville and additional charges made no impact on them whatsoever.

Reluctant though he was to send someone in undercover, Trivette didn't see much choice. They'd gotten another body last week, another mid-sized drug dealer that Carr must have seen as competition. He'd already started trying to come up with a cover that would be strong enough to hold up against the inevitable background checks Carr would run. He knew a long distance one would work best, whoever went in could pose as a buyer for a potential client, maybe from California. He already knew that he would be the one going undercover; he wouldn't be able to handle it if anyone got hurt because of his decision. Again, a thought ran through his head, and he was more aware than ever that this was the same decision Walker would have made. He always put himself in more danger than anyone else. He just wished Walker was actually here to make it.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the wait, my summer has been busier than I anticipated. Anyway, please let me know what you think, good or bad. Enjoy!

* * *

"Carr is a piece of work." Damon Privet smiled as he readjusted himself in his chair. "Course, when he was in here, he was a young thing. Younger, anyway. Minor charge, just dealing. But I heard the rumors." He smiled again.

"What rumors?" Sydney asked.

"Hang on now." Privet leaned in toward the table. "If I talk, what's in it for me?" He leered at Sydney for only a moment before Gage cut in.

"We tell the DA you cooperated. But come on Damon, you know there's no way you're getting out of here anytime soon."

Privet shifted his glance, looking at Gage instead of Sydney for the first time since they'd walked in. "Then why the hell should I talk at all? The way I hear it, Jamie Carr's made a pretty good name for himself out there. He hears I talked, he could get to me."

"We can offer you protection." Gage offered, but Privet shot him down.

"Uh-uh. No way. I want a transfer. Nothin' less."

Gage opened his mouth but Sydney cut in before he could say anything. "We'll see what we can do. Now, what can you tell us?" Sydney could feel Gage looking at her, but she didn't acknowledge him; she wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now.

Privet let out a long, slow breath. "All right, fine. Here's what I know. I was in here long before Jamie Carr ever was. He came in, scrawny little dude, cryin' about how he was innocent and goin' on and on. Said it was all a mistake; said some guy gave him the crack and told him to sell it. Anyway, he goes on about this for a few weeks, and eventually, he just stops. Gets all secretive, won't talk no more. But I keep on him, right? I mean, I've been lookin' out for the kid this whole time, I gotta know what's up with him, you know?"

"How noble. Go on." Sydney deadpanned.

"Anyway, like I said, he's all secretive. Finally, he asks me one night if I can keep a secret. I'm like, hell boy; I'm a master at keeping secrets. He told me that his brother had come to visit him, gotten him a job for when he got out. But he didn't say no more than that. But his brother started coming by more and more and then the rumors really start going. Accordin' to the grapevine, Carr's brother was real tight with Antoine Purcell."

"Purcell? The drug lord?" Gage clarified.

"Yup. The very same. Anyway, after that, people stopped messin' with Carr. He started hangin' with other dudes who worked with Purcell, and no one wanted to cross them. Carr started bulkin' up, getting' power. When he got released, he was a completely different dude. And that's all I know."

Gage and Sydney shared a short glance. Simultaneously, they got up to leave.

"Thanks for your help." Gage said.

"Hey! What about that transfer? Damn cops." He muttered after the rangers' retreating backs.

Neither Gage nor Sydney spoke as they signed out and got their weapons back from the guards in the front. It wasn't until Gage was safely behind the wheel and cruising down the highway that he spoke.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked, glancing at his partner out of the corner of his eye.

"About what?" she asked, though they both knew exactly what 'it' was. They'd asked each other this question several times over the last few months though interestingly enough neither was ever in the mood to answer it.

"You know what."

"No."

"No what?"

"What?"

"What?"

This confused exchange almost got a smile out of Sydney. But any trace of it vanished within seconds and she was staring out the window of the car again. Gage wasn't giving up easily this time though.

"Shorty, come on. We need to talk about it."

"Gage, its fine. There's no need to talk about it. I'm fine, you're fine, Trivette's fine. We're moving on. End of story." There was a note of finality in her words, and Gage thought it best not to push it, which was why he continued driving in silence until they reached Headquarters. Sydney was out of the car as soon as Gage had parked it. Shaking his head, he grabbed his jacket and hers and followed her inside.

Trivette looked up as Sydney entered and went straight to her desk. He heard her talking to herself.

"Damn. Forgot my jacket." She was about to storm back out of the room when she ran into Gage who was entering. A few months ago, this accidental contact would have resulted in a few teasing comments about Gage's vision and Sydney's perpetual rush to get wherever she was going. Now they avoided eye contact as Gage handed Sydney her jacket and she responded with a terse "Thanks." Neither of them acknowledged Trivette which would have amused him if he hadn't needed a report on what they'd just found out.

"What did Privet say?"

Gage and Sydney started talking at the same time, and then both stopped. Somewhat hesitantly, Gage started again.

"According to Privet, when Carr first went to prison he was nothing more than a scared kid. One day, his brother comes to visit him and Carr gets secretive. All he told his cellmate was that he now had a job lined up after he got out."

Sydney picked up there. "Apparently the brother was real close with Antoine Purcell."

"The drug lord?" Trivette clarified.

Sydney nodded. "I think that after he got out, Carr went to work for Purcell."

"What do we know about the brother?" Trivette asked.

"His name was Michael Carr; he was pretty high up in Purcell's organization. He died in a car accident a few weeks after Carr was released from prison. His death was ruled accidental." Something in Gage's voice suggested that he didn't think that was the way it happened.

"But?" Trivette prompted

"But there are some holes." Sydney finished. Trivette almost smiled. They hadn't finished each other's sentences in a long time. He managed to suppress it however, as he asked his next question.

"What are you thinking?"

Gage answered this time. "I think Carr did go to work for Purcell. He started out as a low level runner. I'm guessing he moved his way up in the organization, made powerful friends. I think he got a taste of power and wanted more."

"Purcell died last year; they found his body along with some others in an old warehouse upstate. They had all been shot once in the head." Sydney continued.

"Executed." Trivette mused.

"That's what we're thinking. Carr took over the whole organization; there wasn't anyone to stand in his way. He went from being a scared kid to a ruthless drug lord." Gage agreed.

"Okay. Keep digging. This is good information, but we still need to know more about his organization. That's what happened to Ranger Williamson; after some digging, we realized that a low level dealer Williamson had busted was now working for Carr. The theory is that this dealer had recognized him and snitched; now Ranger Williamson is dead. We need to know every player in his organization if we're going to make this work." Trivette concluded.

Gage and Sydney stared at him. "I thought you said we weren't sending anyone in." Sydney accused.

"Well, it's not definite yet." Trivette hedged. "But there might not be any other option. Like I said before, if we do send someone undercover, we will do it only after we know everything possible about Jamie Carr."

With some hesitation, Gage and Sydney nodded and retreated to their desks. Gage picked up the phone began a call as Sydney typed furiously on her computer.

Trivette surveyed them, thinking hard. He knew they weren't speaking outside of work. But today, he'd witnessed a small spark of the chemistry Gage and Sydney used to have. In the past, they fed off each other, finished each other's sentences and it always seemed as though their minds were almost connected.

That chemistry had ended abruptly a few months ago, though Trivette knew it wasn't by choice. They were trying to help each other by backing off, not pushing too hard. It wasn't helping though; they needed to talk about everything that had happened. Six months was a long time to keep things bottled up and he knew he wasn't setting a good example. At his mandatory psych evaluation, the woman had suggested regular appointments and Trivette had declined. She'd urged him to talk about things with her and he'd demurred. He did talk, just not to her. His brother Simon had been a rock through this. Two months after everything happened Simon had flown down and pounded on the door to Trivette's apartment until he'd answered the door. Simon had hugged him hard and whispered in his ear that everything was going to be okay. Until that point, Trivette hadn't realized how much he needed his older brother. That night, he broke down and talked about everything. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of him, he finally felt like he could move forward with his life. He still talked to Simon every week, sometimes more if he was feeling lost, and their relationship had blossomed. Deep down, he knew that if he could get Gage and Sydney to understand that talking about it really did help, they could move on too. They needed to do that sooner rather than later, especially with such a daunting case ahead of them.

Without thinking about it, he stood and walked over to where Gage and Sydney were working. Gage hung up the phone and looked up, as did Sydney.  
"I'm going to CD's tonight, how about you guys join me?" Trivette asked.

As expected, both started to form excuses but Trivette cut them off.

"Listen, this isn't a request. This is an order. I'll see you there later."

With that he left Headquarters early for the first time in six months. If there was any place conducive to them talking things out, it was CDs. For even though CD was gone, his spirit still inhabited that place. Tonight, things would change.

* * *

By the time Gage and Sydney arrived, Trivette was seated at a booth in the back, three beers in front of him. Sydney and Gage settled in opposite him and Gage immediately took a grateful pull on his drink. Getting drunk was the only way he thought he could make it through this. Sydney however had opposite thoughts; by staying sober she could control what she talked about.

Seeing that neither of his coworkers was going to start the conversation, Trivette did.

"Listen, I know neither of you want to be here. I know you don't want to talk about things to me or to each other. But right now, we don't have a choice. Six months is a long time. It's time to move on."

Neither Gage nor Sydney responded verbally. Gage took downed the bottle and raised his hand for another and Sydney glared at Trivette. She preferred to handle things on her own. She was doing just fine. She hardly thought about things anymore. But another part of her brain was questioning that. Why did she still feel like there was a giant hole in her life? Why did she find herself crying for no reason? Why could she not even look at Gage? Why did she feel like she didn't have the right to be happy again?

Suddenly, without thinking, she spoke. "It's hard." Her voice was low, barely audible over the racket of the noise of the bar.

Gage's hand stopped halfway to his mouth, the bottle inches from his lips. He set it back down on the table and looked at his partner. He wanted so badly to be there for her, to make everything okay. But she'd been distant, and he thought it best to let her have space. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable by talking about his feelings about what had happened if she didn't want to. So he'd kept quiet. But now, maybe, things were different. He waited for her to continue but when she didn't, he did it for her.

"I think about them a lot." He said. "About if we could have done anything differently."

"We did our jobs." Trivette said softly. "We couldn't have done any more than that."

"But it feels like there had to have been something we could have done differently." Sydney pressed.

"That's the thing. There are things we could have done differently. But we can't focus on that, or we'll never get past this." Trivette said. "There's no guarantee that things would be different if we'd acted differently. And you know there's no way we could have stopped most of it. We weren't even there until after it happened."

"Yeah, but still." Sydney's voice trailed off.

"I know." Gage said. "It still feels like there had to be something."

"Okay, let's do this. Let's go through everything that happened six months ago. All of it." Seeing the skepticism on their faces, he continued. "You need to talk this out. We all need to talk this out. It's the only way we're going to move on."

Finally, Gage nodded. "Okay. Fine. Let's do it." After a moment's hesitation, Sydney nodded too.

Pleased with the progress, Trivette smiled encouragingly. "So, six months ago…"

"Seven months." Sydney interrupted. "The case started seven months ago."

"Okay, seven months ago…" Trivette amended.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry this has taken me awhile to post, I'm having creativity issues, which makes writing difficult. Anyway, I think I'm on the right track now, so updates should be quicker. Thanks to all who have been reading and reviewing, I appreciate your feedback!

* * *

**Seven Months Earlier**

"Yes sir. I understand. We'll start immediately. Thank you sir." Walker hung up the phone and looked at Trivette.

"What did the Commissioner want?" Trivette inquired.

"He wants our help."

"Nothing new there." Trivette grinned.

"Yeah. Where are Gage and Sydney?"

"They're bringing Gary Fox in. They should be back soon."

As if on cue, the younger Rangers barged through the door, dragging a burly, disheveled man between them. He was thrashing wildly. Gage and Sydney shoved him into a chair and he stood up immediately. Gage pushed him back down.

"Stay there." He instructed. Fox looked at him and stood up again only to have Sydney kick him in the back of his knee.

"My partner told you to sit down. I suggest you listen to him." Sydney instructed.

"And I suggest you listen to her because she gets grumpy when she gets tired." Gage grinned. A different Ranger came over to start processing Fox, so Gage and Sydney relaxed a little. They'd only stepped a few feet away before Sydney aimed a punch at Gage's arm.

"Ow, Shorty what was that for?" Gage asked as he rubbed his bicep.

"I do not get grumpy when I get tired."

Gage laughed. "Case in point."

Sydney glared and aimed another punch that Gage dodged, laughing again.

Walker let them banter for a moment before calling them over. They grabbed chairs and settled themselves in front of Walker's desk.

"I just got off the phone with the Commissioner. He wants us working a case that he feels requires our attention."

"What is it?" Sydney asked.

Walker sighed. "Over the past month or so there have been a series of robberies around the area. The Commissioner thinks there may be gang involvement; three men break into each house and rob it. They also terrorize the owners."

"Terrorize how?" Trivette asked.

"They hold them hostage for a few days."

"And he thinks it's the same group every time?" Sydney piped up.

"The cases are very similar. The houses are all secluded; none of them are in subdivisions exactly. They choose houses where they can make as much noise as they want without having to worry about the neighbors. They also make the home owners call in sick to work so that no one comes looking for them." Walker explained.

"How do we know all of this?" Gage asked.

"They don't kill the owners. All the stories corroborate; three men are waiting there when they arrive home. They tie the owners up and taunt them for awhile. After that, they make themselves at home; they use the television, the computers, eat food from the kitchen, they basically live the high life for a few days. When they get tired of it, they grab whatever they want and leave."

"They leave the owners alive?" Sydney asked.

Walker nodded. "According to the victims, they wore ski masks the whole time."

"Do we have any leads?" Trivette asked.

"No. That's why the Commissioner wants to bring us in. He's getting reamed by the mayor who wants results. So now it's up to us."

"So where do we start?" Gage asked.

"I want you and Sydney to start running down men who were released from Huntsville in the past few months. I have a feeling they're local. Pay attention to guys who have a history of nonviolent robbery. If you come across someone who looks good, run down their known associates and see if anyone with a similar background pops up. If you find any, Trivette and I will pay them a visit."

With that, Sydney and Gage rolled their chairs back over to their desks and got to work, Gage on the phone, Sydney on the computer.

* * *

Running down the names had taken most of the night and by the time they had finished; the building was mainly empty, only Walker and Trivette were still at their desks.

Gage looked at his partner. "Hey Shorty, what do you say we call it a night?"

Sydney arched her back and let out a soft groan like she always did when her back was stiff. "Sounds good to me. You up for a beer at CDs?"

"Only if you're buying." Gage teased.

"I bought last time you freeloader." She threw a wadded up ball of paper at his head. It bounced off his forehead and into his lap. He picked it up and threw it back at her, but she caught it and dumped it in the trash can.

Gage shot her a wide-eyed innocent look. "Hey, it's not my fault you like to buy me drinks." He laughed again as Sydney tried to come up with a reply.

"You know what _Francis_?" she emphasized his first name purposely and grinned when his smile faded. "Let's go to CDs. You can buy _me_ a drink for putting up with you every day." She smiled so he would know she was joking but it was unnecessary. They joked like this all the time; it was one of the things Gage liked best about Sydney, that she could sling comebacks like nobody's business. As she straightened her desk, Gage approached Walker and Trivette.

"Syd and I are gonna head over to CDs, you guys want to come?"

Trivette nodded his assent and Walker said he needed to call Alex first. Knowing she hadn't left yet, he dialed her office.

"Alex Cahill-Walker." The voice was crisp, but tired.

"Alex, its Walker."

"Hey Cowboy. What's new?"

"How much work do you have left for the night?"

Alex looked at the pile of papers on her desk. "Nothing urgent, what do you have in mind?"

"Trivette, Gage, and Sydney are headed to CDs for a late dinner, you feel like going?"

"Sure, let me grab my bag and I'll meet you there. Love you."

"I love you too." Walker hung up the phone. "We're in. Let's go."

* * *

By the time Alex walked into the bar, things were in full swing. Sydney and Gage were sitting next to each other at a table set for five, the empty seat, presumably for her, was between Walker and Trivette. There was a plate of nachos in the middle of the table and everybody except Walker had a beer in front of them. As she walked in, they all burst out laughing at something Gage was saying. She sidled up behind Walker and kissed him on the cheek. His eyes lit up when he saw her, something that never ceased to flatter her. She greeted everyone else and settled into her seat, letting Walker pop a hot nacho into her mouth and laughing as cheese slid down her chin.

Inevitably, the conversation turned to work and the home invasion robbery case at hand. Theories were bounced back and forth; Sydney and Gage had some hopeful links between recent Huntsville parolees but both admitted that none of them seemed right so far. Alex surveyed them and vowed to get Sydney by herself at some point. She always told Alex that nothing was going on, nothing would ever go on, her and Gage was partners and he was a great guy. But Alex knew there was something more than that, even if Sydney and Gage hadn't realized it for themselves. She was pretty sure everyone else knew it too, even Trivette who wouldn't know what a long term relationship looked like if it danced naked in front of him with a turkey burger. She sighed as she looked at the group around her, this group of people that was so important to her, such a big part of her life.

"Alex? Alex, are you okay?"

She shook her head as she realized Walker was talking to her. "I'm great! Just thinking."

"So, what do you think our chances are of getting search warrants for the houses tomorrow?" Trivette asked.

"Well, it depends on what you have to go on. No judge is going to give a warrant just because somebody fits into a theory. You need something substantial." She said.

Gage looked at Sydney. "Guess that means some surveillance for you and me Shorty."

Sydney rolled her eyes. "Fantastic. But it's your turn to clean out the car."

"No way, I did it last time."

"Gage, that's because you're the one that makes the mess!" Sydney was playfully exasperated. They bantered back and forth for awhile longer as the other three sat there laughing. Finally, Walker decided it was time to call it a night. He threw some bills down on the table.

"That should cover everyone." He smiled, ignoring the protests that everyone could pay for their own meals. "We split it, don't worry about it. Just remember that the next time I ask you guys for a favor." He and Alex bade everyone good bye and he walked her to her car. He leaned in a kissed her once before shutting the door. He watched her drive off and got into his truck following her home. His life was good.

* * *

The next day was unproductive. As a matter of fact, the next whole week was unproductive. Sydney and Gage had finished sifting through the list of recent releases from Huntsville and they, along with Walker and Trivette, divided the list and began the stakeouts. A few were crossed off right away; they'd consented to voluntary searches of their homes and workplaces and the Rangers had found nothing useful. Some had alibis for one or more of the robberies that actually panned out. The rest were now being closely watched, though so far, no one was overly suspicious. They all knew they couldn't stake out every possible suspect forever and after a week, even Walker admitted the surveillance was going nowhere.

"We need a new tactic." He said. He was leaning back in his chair with his hands folded in front of him, giving Trivette an expectant look.

Trivette leaned forward on his desk and ran his hands over his face. "Okay." He said, resting his chin on his hands. "Okay. So, three men are robbing houses but leaving the owners alive."

"Yes, I know that." Walker said, amused.

"Shut up. Let me go with it."

Walker put his hands up defensively and motioned for Trivette to continue.

"We have a narrowed down list of previous offenders previously released from Huntsville."

"Your deductive powers are amazing."

"Hey, we can't all have a Cherokee instinct. We know they're robbing the place. So what are they doing with the stuff they take?"

"Selling it?"

"That's what I'm thinking."

"Okay. We need to look at fences who deal with this kind of stuff. Have Sydney and Gage start doing that."

"Sydney will be thrilled. Last I heard she was yelling at Gage for leaving fast food wrappers in the back seat."

Walker laughed and stood up. "I'm going to go see Alex; I'll be back in awhile."

Trivette nodded and resumed his paperwork.

* * *

Walker knocked on the door to Alex's office and entered. She looked up and smiled at him. "Hey Cowboy. What brings you by?"

"I just thought I would come see my favorite District Attorney. How're things going?"

Alex sighed. "I've only got four cases right now but it feels like I've got twenty. I'm not complaining though, most of these are slam dunks. And I cannot wait to put some of these guys away."

"I'm sure you'll do amazing."

Alex smiled again. It was one of Walker's favorite things, seeing her smile.

"How's the home invasion case going?" she asked.

"Not as well as I'd hoped." Walker admitted. "But I think Trivette's onto something; we're going to start looking into people who deal in stolen goods. We might get something there."

Alex nodded. "Well, as soon as you have something, let me know. Any chance you're taking an early night?"

"I could be persuaded. Why?"

"Well, I've had about enough paperwork for the day, I was thinking of heading home and cooking something nice for dinner. And I was hoping you might be free to join me." She smiled up at him again.

"Well in that case, consider me persuaded." He leaned in for a kiss and he felt Alex's mouth curve into a smile under his. She pulled back first.

"I better get going then. Don't keep me waiting Cowboy." They left her office together and kissed again at the elevator.

"See you in an hour or so." Walker said. He smiled as the elevator doors closed and walked back to his office. Sometimes, he couldn't believe how lucky he was.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for your patience, as always. Also, please, please review. I love them, they inspire me to write more, even if they are criticisms. Anyway, hope you like the chapter, let me know what you think!

* * *

Forty minutes later, Walker stood up, grabbed his hat and bade farewell to his coworkers.

"Leaving early?" Trivette asked, surprised. It wasn't actually early, it was already almost seven o'clock, but Walker never left before anyone else.

"Meeting Alex for dinner. You guys should go home too. See you tomorrow." With a grin, he left the office.

Trivette stared after him for a few seconds, marveling at the idea of being so obviously in love with someone. There had been women that caught his eye, of course, but he hadn't been able to find the right one. Someday, he kept telling himself, someone special would come along.

* * *

Traffic was light and Walker made it home fairly quickly. He parked his truck beside Alex's convertible and let himself into the house.

"Alex?" he called when he got inside. He was instantly suspicious upon noticing that he smelled nothing delicious wafting out of the oven. Plus, the kitchen was dark. As far as he could tell, the whole house was dark. Quietly, he drew his gun, raising it in front of him, ready to shoot anything that moved. He cleared the kitchen and the dining room. As he moved into the living room, something hit him from behind. He fell to the floor and his gun flew out of his hand. Springing up from the floor, he aimed a punch at his attacker and felt his fist connect with something hard. He heard a grunt of pain and aimed a kick to the same spot. He hit something hard again and heard another grunt. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness and he was able to see the silhouette of his attacker. Before he had a chance to land another hit, something else collided with the back of his head, harder than the last time. There was more than one person in his house! He turned and though he was normally successful at fending off more than one attacker, sometimes three or four, his head was throbbing and he could feel blood trickling down his neck. In the split second it took him to regain his balance he was hit again and he fell. He reached out and grabbed an ankle, pulling it towards him. The loud thud he heard was confirmation that someone was down. He crawled on the floor until he felt the familiar cool touch of metal that was his gun. He grabbed it and rolled to a standing position. He saw a silhouette go streaking by and fired; the shadow was too big to be Alex. He missed though, and the lights switched on.

Walker's eyes took only a moment to adjust to the light and he looked around. He clocked the two men that had attacked him, they were breathing heavily. But before he had a chance to fire on them, he heard a voice coming from an unknown assailant.

"Drop it." Walker whirled around to meet this new attacker. He was standing in the middle of the room. Alex was tied to a chair on front of him, bound and gagged, a gun pressed into her temple. Her eyes were filled with the mixture of fear and defiance he'd seen much too often in situations like this. She leaned forward only slightly, but the man roughly pulled her back.

"Let her go." Walker commanded, still holding his gun.

"I don't think so." The third man said and Walker heard the sneer in his voice. All three men were wearing ski masks, he noticed as the other two men walked around him to gather behind the spot where Alex was sitting. Walker knew this had to be the gang that had been hitting the other houses in the area. Now that he thought about it, his house was a perfect target. It was big, secluded, and they were a single couple with no children. They made a mistake though; they underestimated who they were dealing with. They didn't know he was a Ranger. But they were sure as hell going to find out.

"I said, let her go." He emphasized every word and took a step toward the man closest to Alex. For a moment, the man seemed to lower his gun. Before Walker could get to him, he yanked Alex out of the chair and held her in front of him, gun still pressed to her head. The other two had now drawn their weapons, and they were pointing them at Walker. Walker stopped, reluctant to get too close. Just because these men hadn't killed before didn't mean they wouldn't start. Even if he took out the guy holding Alex, the other two would shoot him before he got them, leaving Alex alone with them. If he fired at one of the other two, the man might shoot Alex. He had no choice. He was going to have to take his chances.

He raised his hands. "Okay, you win. Just don't hurt her. And just remember that you're not going to get away with this."

"Don't be so sure." The man sneered again, and he shoved Alex into the chair again. Her eyes never left Walker's. He tried to reassure her using his own, and he thought he saw her relax a bit, but no one could fully relax in this situation. He allowed himself to be shoved into a different chair and felt his arms pulled and tied tightly behind his back.

"What do you want?" he asked. They didn't answer, but instead gagged him and finally lowered their weapons and left the room. "Have a good night!" one of them called.

Walker and Alex were left facing each other, about five feet apart, neither able to verbally communicate. They heard the thieves rummaging around in the kitchen and the sound of breaking china. Alex winced, that had been a wedding present. There were more sounds; the refrigerator and freezer being opened and closed, the microwave beeping, bottles of wine and beer being opened. They never stopped laughing. They moved into a different room and the television was turned on. They selected a sports game and began jeering and cheering at the players. They grew louder and they consumed more alcohol and Walker understood the necessity of seclusion for them. Neighbors would surely hear this.

He pulled at the plastic restraints holding his wrists together, but they weren't budging. Alex too was having no luck. After twenty minutes, his wrists were rubbed raw, and he took a break. Alex stopped struggling too; they heard someone approaching. His ski mask was still on, but Walker could tell by the voice that it was the one who had threatened Alex earlier. It was obvious that he was drunk, but it was also obvious that knew what he was doing. He was the ringleader.

"I'm sorry to inform you," he began, slurring his words slightly, "That you will not be attending work tomorrow. A day off!" he cheered, and then laughed. "You should be pleased." He added, noticing Alex's contemptuous look. Getting no reaction, he plowed on, all business now. "You need to call in sick to work." He instructed. He yanked the gag out of her mouth but pointed his gun at Walker. "If you say anything wrong, I will shoot your husband. Do you understand?" Alex nodded. "Very good. Now, what's the number?"

Alex gave it to him and he dialed, raising the phone to her ear as it rang, his gun still trained on Walker.

"Ray, this is Alex. I'm not feeling well; I don't think I'll be in tomorrow. Email me anything urgent; I have most of my files at home anyway. Bye." The man ended the call.

"Very good." He said again. He cupped Alex's cheek in one hand. "Very, very good."

Walker pulled harder at his restraints but before he could make any progress the man turned away from Alex and toward him. Walker stopped. The man removed his gag as well.

"Same thing." He said. "What's the number?"

Walker gave it, trying to come up with something that would tell Trivette that something was wrong. He couldn't think of anything he could say that wouldn't tip his captor off as to what he was doing. He just had to rely on the fact that Trivette knew what the other cases involved. Once Trivette realized both he and Alex had called in sick, he, Sydney, and Gage would come storming in here.

"Trivette, its Walker. I'm not going to be in tomorrow, I'm sick. Let me know if anything urgent comes up." The words sounded fake to his ears; he'd never called in sick before. He never planned to do it again.

The captor disconnected again and left, warning them not to make too much noise. They heard him yelling as he reached the television again.

"Are you okay?" Walker asked immediately.

"Walker, I'm fine." Alex said, just like she always did.

"Did they hurt you?"

She shook her head. "No. They were waiting her when I got back. I went into the kitchen and one of them grabbed me. They brought me in here and told me to stay quiet. I've been sitting here since then. Walker, I'm fine." She insisted again, seeing the look on his face. "Do you think these are the same guys the Commissioner called you about?"

"I have no doubt." Walker said.

"They haven't killed anyone." Alex said.

"No, they haven't." Walker agreed.

"Walker, we can't just let them escape." Alex insisted.

"We won't."

"How are we going to stop them?"

"That's the part I haven't figured out yet." He smiled, and she returned the gesture.

They sat like that, scheming together for the better part of two hours. Walker didn't want to do anything that put Alex in harm's way. Nor did he want to leave her alone at any point. This limited their options severely. Their best bet was to try to make it to the kitchen, grab a knife, and cut the restraints. Alex would then call for help while Walker tried to disarm the three men. Neither was particularly pleased with the plan, but it was the best they had come up with. They decided to wait until their captors went to sleep before they moved.

They were thrown off when one of the men walked into the room and cut the restraints holding Alex to the chair.

"What are you doing?" Walker asked.

"Bathroom." The man grunted, grabbing Alex's upper arm and pulling her to her feet. Her eyes met Walker's as the man led her to the bathroom. There was no one in the room with him. Straining, he could see that the bathroom door was closed; the guy was standing outside it. Walker seized his chance. Standing slowly, he slid his arms up the back of the chair until they were free. Hand s still tied behind him, he walked quietly but quickly to the kitchen, glancing into the other room as he passed it. No one noticed him. He managed to grab hold of a knife, but it slipped as he tried to cut the restraints. He felt it slice into his hand, but he pulled it out and continued cutting. He felt it start to give, but before he could cut all the way through, he heard the toilet flush and the bathroom door open. He crouched in the corner, still cutting as hard as he could. Finally, he felt the plastic snap. He stayed crouched down, obscured by the darkness clutching the knife. The footsteps grew nearer, Alex was walking in front, and the man was behind her with one hand on her shoulder and the other twisting an arm behind her back. After they passed, Walker stepped out, not making a sound. Still holding the knife, he wrapped his arm around the man's neck and squeezed, pressing the knife to his throat at the same time. The man released Alex and she whirled around. When she saw Walker, she wanted desperately to help, but also knew that the best way to do it was often to just stay out of the way. The man was struggling, but Walker was stronger and he didn't relinquish his hold on the man's neck.

"Go." He whispered to Alex. She hesitated for only a second, and then ran. She had almost reached the front door when a strong arm encircled her waist. She screamed as she felt herself being pulled backward. She flailed wildly and the man holding her temporarily lifted her off the floor in an effort to control her. He slammed her down onto the dining room table and glass shattered around her. Blood dripped into her eyes and onto the floor. Someone kicked her and she rolled over, feeling broken glass pierce her skin again and again. She lay there, unwilling to get up and fight.

Walker heard her scream and he threw the man he was holding to the ground. He rushed into the dining room and saw her get smashed into the table. He ran headfirst at the man, slamming the knife into his abdomen. He pulled it out and stabbed him again, but something was wrong. There wasn't enough blood, and then Walker felt it. The man was wearing a bulletproof vest. While not knife resistant, the vest provided added cushioning so that the knife couldn't penetrate the skin as easily. Still, Walker refused to give up. He aimed the knife higher, at the unprotected skin of the neck. Before he could hit his target, however, he felt the knife fly out of his hand. Then he heard the gunshot. The third man had joined the fight, and he was firing his weapon everywhere he could. Walker felt another round hit him in the shoulder. He whirled around, determined to get to the gun before a bullet hit Alex. The bullets were faster though, two tore through his abdomen and one in his thigh. He stumbled and fell to the ground. As he tried to get back up, another bullet found its way into his chest. Things were getting blurry, but he was determined to protect Alex. He slid toward her on the ground, she was stirring, finally. Her eyes met his and they were full of fear. He reached out his hand to her, but it was roughly kicked away. He was kicked in the head and he shut his eyes to block out the pain. They flashed open again as he heard Alex yell again.

Walker rolled over onto his stomach and launched himself across the floor; Alex had grabbed the leg of the man standing nearest to her. He kicked her away and directed his gun down at her. Walker managed to pull the man's arm down, but the gun went off. Walker recoiled, shocked. He stared down at Alex, who was no longer moving. Blood surrounded her. He reached out to hold her, but a heavy boot collided with his head again. The last thing he saw before he passed out was the unmoving, lifeless body of Alex Cahill-Walker.


	5. Chapter 5

Yes, I am completely aware that I am a terrible person for making you wait this long. No excuses, just apologies. Anyway, please forgive me, and review to let me know what you think!

* * *

Trivette walked in to work the following day humming to himself. He didn't know what song he was humming, and it was driving him nuts. So, the only logical solution was to continue humming until someone told him the name of the song. Walker would know, of course. Trivette figured that as soon as he sat down, still humming, that Walker would look at him with an exasperated look and ask Trivette if he really had to make so much noise. But when Trivette hung up his hat, he was surprised to see that Walker wasn't at his desk. By the looks of it, Sydney had just gotten in and Gage wasn't here yet, which was nothing unusual. Trivette smiled. Walker and Alex must have had some night last night. He was glad; if anyone deserved a break, it was them. He settled himself in behind his desk and nodded to Gage as he walked in, two cups of coffee in hand, one of which he handed to Sydney, who smiled gratefully.

"Hey! Where's mine?" Trivette teased.

Gage grinned. "Two hands Trivette, two cups of coffee. Sorry." Trivette laughed to himself as his computer booted up. Only then did he realize that the message light on his phone was blinking. He pressed play, listened to Walker's voice saying he was sick and sighed. He had really been hoping to get a break in the home invasion case today, and if anyone could find a link, it was Walker. And then it hit him. He grabbed his hat and holstered his gun, yelling at Gage and Sydney to follow him. He yelled over his shoulder for Sydney to call Alex's office; she did, and found that the same message had been left on her boss's machine.

"Damn it!" Trivette yelled, picking up his pace and slamming his fist into the elevator button. He had a hurried conference with Sydney and Gage.

"All of the home invasion victims have left messages calling in sick so they wouldn't be missed at work. Walker never calls in sick."

"Neither does Alex." Sydney added.

"And what are the chances they both get sick on the same day?" Gage asked, not needing an answer. He pressed the elevator button again and again, knowing it wasn't making the car come faster.

Trivette tried to calm himself down, to rationalize. Maybe this was the break he'd been hoping for. None of the victims had been harmed, just tied up. They would get to the ranch and apprehend the suspects; Walker and Alex would be fine. Just another story in a wide collection. But something was nagging in the back of Trivette's mind. Walker wouldn't go down without a fight. What if something had gone wrong? The other part of his brain told him that was silly; Walker could take care of himself easily. But as he looked at Sydney and Gage's faces, he saw his question staring back at him. What if?

* * *

The car screeched to a halt almost a mile down the road from Walker's ranch. It wasn't voluntary; there was a huge traffic jam of police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances. Trivette, Gage, and Sydney jumped out of their own car and approached the nearest officer, flashing their badges.

"Who's in charge here?" Trivette demanded. Behind him, Gage and Sydney were straining to see past the sea of flashing lights.

The young officer pointed in the direction of an older man who was speaking to the fire chief with a grim look on his face. Trivette marched up to them, introduced himself, and flashed his badge again.

"What happened?"

The older officer cleared his throat. "Young couple called it in. They were walking along the back side of the property, admiring the horses."

Trivette nodded for him to continue; people did that all the time.

"Anyway, they heard what sounded like gunshots-" Sydney drew a sharp breath, "and went closer to investigate. Then, they saw the smoke and called it in."

"So what happened?" Trivette asked, nearly hysterical.

The officer peered down at him. "I'm sorry; who did you say you were?"

"Listen pal, I'm a Texas Ranger, the man that owns this ranch is my partner. Right now, you need to remember that I outrank you in every possible way. What the hell happened?"

The officer was taken aback for only a moment, and then he gave Trivette a pity-filled look. At this point, the fire chief piped up. "I'm sorry. By the time we all got out here, the fire had almost entirely engulfed the house." His tone changed, his voice got lower and they all had to strain to hear it. "We were able to pull the man, Mr. Walker out of the house. But he'd been shot several times and he wasn't breathing. The paramedics took over while we tried to put out the fire, but in the end we just had to let it burn. It was too hot."

"You don't understand. I don't give a damn about the house, what happened to Walker and Alex?" Trivette demanded, feeling Sydney put a calming hand on his forearm, knowing that she was barely keeping it together. Gage couldn't even speak and Trivette could feel him on his other side, anger building.

"Well, like I said, Mr. Walker wasn't breathing when we pulled him out. But the paramedics took him to the hospital anyway. I don't know what his status is."

"What about Alex?" Sydney finally asked.

The fire chief and the policeman shared a look that answered her question. Finally, after a short stare down, the fire chief said, "I'm so very sorry. We couldn't get to her."

Trivette felt like his world was going dark; he took a step to the side to steady himself. Somehow, he managed to thank the men for the information and stumbled closer to the house. Sydney and Gage mirrored him, only because they were in too much shock to do anything on their own. Trivette stopped walking when he could finally see what was left of the ranch. Walker's ranch. Walker and Alex's. Or not. There was nothing left except a few charred pieces of wood still randomly standing. He felt stinging behind his eyes as two crime scene techs walked past him with a gurney, a sheet covering the body. He stopped them, knowing that he had to look. In the end though, it was Gage who finally pulled the sheet back and revealed the charred remains of what was once one of the most genuine people he had ever known.

Gage could see a few strands of blond hair still attached; it was funny how that happened sometimes. Then he kicked himself mentally, how could he be thinking about anything funny right now? Alex was dead. He made himself say it over and over again in his head, thinking that maybe it would start to sink in. But it didn't. No matter how many times he said it, he couldn't accept it. Then the flashbacks started coming: Alex laughing in the office, Alex and Walker at a barbecue, Gage making her stare in disbelief as he ate four burgers at once. And once the flashbacks started, they didn't stop. He looked at his partner, needing to know that she, at least, was okay. But she wasn't. It was written all over her face. She looked at the body of her best friend and let the tears fall, not needing to feel tough, not needing to prove herself to anyone.

Like Gage, she was having flashbacks. The one in her head right now was from when they were being held hostage in Casa Diablo. Sydney had gone down there to protect Alex, and she'd almost gotten her killed. She'd been so ready to do whatever was necessary to save her friend, and now, she found herself asking why she hadn't been at the ranch when Alex really needed her. Why was it that Sydney could either put Alex in danger or not protect her? Why couldn't she have saved her? Why didn't she call Alex tonight to chat, which they hadn't done in awhile? Why hadn't she called to vent about Gage's latest antics, knowing that Alex was the only one who really understood how she felt and why she couldn't tell anyone else?

The crime scene techs cleared their throats, they needed to move on. Gage lowered the sheet and said a short prayer. The three stood huddled together as Alex's body was loaded into the coroner's van.

"We need to get to the hospital." Trivette finally said in a hollow voice. Gage grunted his assent, wiping a tear from his cheek. Sydney merely nodded. Together, they walked back to the car and once they were in it, they got away from the ranch as fast as possible.

* * *

They reached the hospital where Trivette parked the car illegally. Flashing his badge for the third time that night, he asked about the condition of Texas Ranger Cordell Walker. The nurse checked something in the computer and looked up at him.

"He's still in surgery. You can wait in the waiting room."

"But how is he? What is he in surgery for? Can't you tell me anything?" Trivette yelled. Gage grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him off to the waiting room.

"Sorry." She muttered to the nurse. "It's been a hard morning." She joined the men in the waiting room and began to pace.

She was still pacing three hours later when a doctor finally made an appearance. He was sweating and looked exhausted.

"Are you here for Ranger Walker?"

"Yes." Gage answered. "How is he?"

The doctor sighed. "I'm so sorry."

Sydney paled at those words. She'd already heard them once this morning and did not care to hear them again. Ever.

"Is he-?" she choked out. Walker was like a father to her; it was like losing her own father all over again.

"The paramedics were able to restart his heart in the ambulance. Ranger Walker had been shot several times, mostly in the chest cavity. Both lungs were collapsed and there was heavy internal bleeding. Another bullet severed his femoral artery; he lost a lot of blood. We were able to stop the bleeding during the surgery, but I'm afraid I don't think that will be enough. His brain went without oxygen for quite some time, and he cannot breathe on his own. Right now he is on a respirator." He looked at them for a second before continuing. "He's in a coma. And I'm afraid I don't expect him to wake up." He let them absorb that information, but then his pager went off. "I have to go, I'm so sorry. Please feel free to call me if you have questions."

"Can we see him?" Gage asked.

"Only for a moment." The doctor said, and then hurried off.

A nurse gave them the room number and they slowly, quietly entered the hospital room.

Trivette thought he might vomit; seeing his partner lying there so pale and helpless was almost more than he could handle. Walker was so pale, it seemed like he blended into the sheets. There were beeping noises, and the hiss of a respirator that was forcing his friend to breathe, to stay alive. He felt Sydney slide her hand into his, and he squeezed back, grateful for something to hold onto. Gage had his arm around Sydney and she was leaning into his side, letting her tears soak into his shirt.

They stood like that for almost ten minutes, and then decided silently that it was time to go. As they left the room, Trivette had a thought that he would forever wish he could un-think. At least he didn't have to tell Walker about Alex.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to moviemom44 for pointing out a typo, I fixed it : ) and to those who have reviewed so far!

* * *

Two months passed. Two slow, angst filled months. Trivette, Gage, and Sydney had been working hard on the home invasion case, harder than ever with the full extent of the city behind them, but nothing had come of it. Walker and Alex had been the last victims of the gang of home invaders; there hadn't been another robbery since that night.

They'd had a funeral for Alex almost two weeks after she died. The delay was due to a number of factors. First, the coroner wanted to perform an autopsy, though what he hoped to learn was impossible to figure out. The body was burnt to a crisp, beyond any possible identification. But there was no doubt that it was Alex. The hypothesized height and weight matched hers perfectly. No DNA from the hair strands was viable, but the coroner did note that the hairs were indeed naturally blonde. The only other note he had was that the skeleton was in pristine condition, except for the fact that it had been burned. The autopsy had taken a few days to do because of the backload of cases; when it was finished, the remaining delay was because of the three remaining Rangers. And the fourth who, miraculously, was still clinging to life.

Walker lived the first night in the hospital. Doctors were stunned, but warned that he could not hold on much longer. His body would deteriorate, and he would die. But then he survived a second night. He was still in a coma, doctors said, but holding on. The third night, his heart stopped. Sydney was the one sitting with him that night, for they'd arranged a rotating schedule, and she watched as doctors and nurses shocked him over and over again trying to get his stubborn heart to beat. Part of her wanted to stop them, thinking that maybe if Walker never woke up, he wouldn't even have to find out about Alex. And the other part of her willed him to wake, to fix everything. She hadn't slept since Alex died. Rationally, she knew Walker couldn't bring her back, but the irrational part of her was convinced that Walker could do anything. Thankfully, the doctors had restarted his heart in the end, and they were running more tests than ever. The tests were inconclusive; he was indeed in a coma. There was severe damage to some of his organs from loss of blood. But he was still alive.

Ten days after Alex died; they finally made the decision that they had to have the funeral. Secretly, subconsciously, whatever you wanted to call it, they'd all been waiting for Walker to wake up and tell them what to do. This was his decision to make, this was his wife. He deserved the chance to say goodbye more than any of them; no one wanted to bury her without Walker present. But they couldn't wait any longer.

The service was brief, a few of Alex's favorite hymns and prayers, and a few anecdotes from friends. A soloist sang Amazing Grace as they lowered her casket into the ground. Gage, Trivette, and Sydney stayed at the cemetery long after the ceremony ended each lost in their own thoughts and memories of the incredible woman they'd had the privilege of calling their friend.

Their only solace was in pursuing the case with a more renewed passion than they'd ever had. They were putting in eighteen to twenty hour days, sometimes even sleeping at the office. Tables were suddenly very comfortable and the coffee machine was on all night. They tossed theories back and forth about suspects and such, but nothing came to fruition. There was simply nothing there, especially now that the attacks had stopped. It was around this time that they stopped talking to each other.

At first, the silence had been nice. Each was free to remember Alex in their own way; Trivette focused on events they'd been through together, like the time Caleb Hooks locked them in a tank and they almost drowned. She'd been so strong during that. Then there was the time Walker was trapped in the car that fell off the bridge and ended up in a coma. Alex refused to come back to work and instead stayed there with him day and night. Trivette often scoffed at ideas of the supernatural, but secretly, he thought Alex's presence may have been some kind of incentive for Walker to wake up. He wished she could be here now to do the same, he had the nagging feeling that Walker would know what to do to crack this case wide open.

He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't even realize that Sydney and Gage hadn't spoken to each other in over three weeks. One night, Sydney showed up at Gage's apartment, clutching warm boxes to Chinese food. Her face was puffy, her eyes red, but Gage knew better than to ask if she'd been crying. This was her way of reaching out to him and he knew it. The truth was, he'd been contemplating going to her place that very night. It was a week after the funeral and tensions were high because of the lack of leads. The only notable event was the death of a local drug dealer and the rise of another one, but that was entirely unrelated to the case. At any rate, Gage was glad she'd come.

"Hey Shorty." He offered a small smile as he opened the door.

"Hi. Hungry?" she asked, not quite meeting his eyes.

"Sure." He stepped aside to let her in. They spread the food out on the coffee table and settled in on the couch. Sydney picked up her chopsticks but put them back down before she ate anything.

"She's gone." She felt tears poking at the back of her eyes and willed them to go away. One escaped though, and slid down her cheek. Part of her felt like an idiot, how many times had she told herself not to cry in front of her male partners? How many nights had she gone home and iced bumps and bruises and sprains and gone to work the next day pretending like nothing was wrong? But the other part of her knew that if anyone would understand, it would be Gage. "I just…don't know. How can she be gone?" She took a deep breath, trying and failing to maintain her composure. She lowered her face until it was resting in her hands. Nearby, she heard Gage set down his chopsticks and suddenly felt his arm encircling her shoulders, pulling her to him. She let her head rest on his chest and took comfort on the steady beating of his heart, letting the bottled up tears course down her face. They sat like that in silence for awhile before Gage spoke.

"I know. It's like, why did she have to be the one to go? Why not some evil scum already on death row in Huntsville? Alex is…was…such a good person."

Sydney took a breath. "I feel like there should have been something I could have done. That we could have done. Any of us."

"There wasn't. We got there as soon as Trivette figured out what was going on." The tone of his voice suggested he was not only trying to convince her, but himself as well.

"I just can't believe I'll never see her again." Sydney said softly. Never see her again. Those four words ignited a fresh outpouring of tears, but she was too tired to be ashamed as they soaked into Gage's T-shirt. She was too tired to feel the tears dripping off of Gage's chin and into her hair.

Again they sat there, curled up on the couch staring at nothing, saying nothing. Eventually, Gage broke the silence again.

"It makes you realize how short life really is." He mused softly. "How it can be all gone in an instant."

Sydney sat up, nodding and wiping her face. "I know what you mean." And in that instant, their eyes met and Sydney found herself leaning her face toward Gage's as he leaned toward her. Their lips met and it was a feeling Sydney had never felt before, one of pure trust, of gentleness, and of passion. Without thinking, she let Gage push her backwards onto the couch, and he gently lowered himself on top of her. She yanked his T-shirt over his head as he started unbuttoning hers; exposing the simple black bra she was wearing. She flicked the button of his jeans through the hole and helped him shimmy out of them before doing the same with hers. She felt Gage's hands around her back, searching for the clasp of her bra and felt him unhook it. He took his mouth off of hers and pressed it to her collarbone, sliding one hand under her back and arching her body to his. Somehow, they'd managed to wriggle out of their underwear and for awhile, they silently marveled at the others body, Gage's toned and fit; Sydney's smooth and muscular.

Some part of Sydney had fantasized about this moment often, the time she and Gage first made love. It lived up to her every expectation as their hips moved in synchronicity and they united in a way she'd only ever dreamed about. In that moment she felt as though nothing could go wrong in the world, she felt safe in Gage's arms. It was like her body was hyperaware of everything going on, the touch of Gage's hands on her body, the feel of his mouth on hers. For right now, at least, everything was completely perfect.

Somehow in their tryst they'd rolled over and Sydney had fallen asleep on top of Gage, his arms encircling her bare back. They'd fallen asleep in a moment of complete and utter peace, but when they awoke, that peace was long gone.

Gage woke up first, not unused to finding himself on the couch; he often fell asleep with the television on. When he realized that Sydney was on top of him, her dark hair splayed across his chest, it took him a moment to remember. And suddenly, it all came back: the feel of her skin under his fingertips, the racing of her heart when he kissed her, the feelings he had that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world when this was so right.

But then, as it so often did, his mind started racing. Why had he let himself do this? Alex hadn't even been dead a month, and here he was having sex on his couch like nothing was wrong. And if that wasn't bad enough, he'd just had sex with his partner. The same partner he'd been lusting after since they joined up, of course, but still. After that kiss the night of Alex and Walker's wedding, Sydney had made it very clear that any feelings either of them had needed to take a backseat. They were partners first. Any romantic involvement would compromise that and he'd been perfectly content to mask his feelings the same way he knew she was masking hers.

Before he had another thought, Sydney started stirring. She moaned lightly and stretched her body so her short frame seemed even longer atop his. Realizing that she was not in her own bed, she froze, snapping her head toward his, meeting his eyes immediately.

"Oh my God. What did we do? Gage, what the hell were we thinking?" she screeched, knowing she could not blame him for this at all.

"Syd, its okay, calm-"

"Calm down? Don't tell me to calm down! I just buried one of my best friends and now I'm here with-with you having-making-whatever! How could I do that Gage?" she was nearly hysterical.

"Sydney, stop. We just buried one of our best friends. Alex was my friend too. And we both did this. It wasn't just you."

She glared at him. "I should have known better than this. Why did I come here last night?" Before he could answer, she plowed on. "You know what? Let's just forget this ever happened, okay?" She stood and grabbed her clothes throwing them on haphazardly. "Let's just focus on this case. We owe it to Walker and Alex to do at least that much. Where is my goddamn phone?" she spied it lying on the kitchen counter and snatched it, flipping it open to check her messages. Gage, not wanting to say the wrong thing, stood and dressed himself. Once he was fully clothed, he looked at Sydney.

"Anything?"

"No." she looked as though she might cry again.

"Shorty, listen, we didn't do anything wrong." He went to her and tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. "It's okay."

She jerked her face out of his hand. "No, Gage, it is not okay! We are going to forget this ever happened. Not a word, do you hear me? Gage," she pleaded. "Not a word."

Gage had never heard Sydney beg before, for anything. And he had to admit to himself that they would be in huge trouble with the department if anyone found out about this.

"Okay Shorty. I promise I won't tell anyone."

She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something else, but instead closed it and shook her head, practically leaping to the door, wrenching it open. Within minutes her car peeled out of the parking lot and she was gone.

That was a month ago, and they still weren't speaking. Once he'd realized something was up, Trivette had tried to get them to talk, at least to him, but they wouldn't. Before long, silence had become the norm and they all pushed harder than ever to solve this case. It had all but gone cold, no leads, no suspects, no new clues, nothing. Eventually, they'd been assigned another case. Then another. And another. Slowly, the home invasion case went cold, destined to be shoved in a box on a shelf somewhere. Forgotten about, except for in the minds of three very driven Texas Rangers.

Three months had passed now; the Rangers were pursuing a gang that specialized in meth. They still didn't speak much, except for terse greetings, good-byes, and case updates. Until that one fateful day when Trivette's phone rang. Walker was awake.


	7. Chapter 7

As always, please enjoy and review!

* * *

Walker woke up slowly, disoriented over the course of an hour or so. It took him awhile to become aware of where he was; he could feel the morphine coursing through his veins. The first time he opened his eyes he closed them again almost immediately, passing out. Once he finally did wake up enough to think straight he tried to sort out his mind. He had the sense that he'd been asleep for a long time, a month or so, maybe more. The morphine was making it hard to think. He could tell that he was in the hospital; the bed was soft, the monitors were beeping all around him. He could feel the nurses call button near his hand but he didn't press it yet. He needed to straighten things out in his head.

He forced his mind to go where it didn't want to; back to the night everything happened. He remembered getting home and seeing Alex tied up in the living room. He remembered the fight, the feel of the first bullet tearing through his body. His heart rate sped up now and he forced himself to breathe evenly. In his mind he could see Alex trying to help him and being slammed into the table and the floor. The pain in her eyes was evident, even now, months after it happened. He felt more pain in the spots where the bullets had ripped him apart that night as he remembered being shot. And the last shot. The shot that killed Alex. That last shot was his fault, he was the one who tried to grab the gun, and he was the one that caused it to go off. In his mind, he left the hospital room; he was back at the ranch in the dining room. Alex's face filled his frame of vision, her eyes closed. The only thing he was thankful for was that she hadn't seen the shot coming; she was already unconscious. Walker could only hope that she didn't feel anything.

He wanted to stop remembering now, to force the memories back down into his subconscious where he wouldn't have to actively think about them. He wanted to do what he'd been able to do with Ellen Garret all those years ago, bury it to the extent that he could get through his days without thinking about it, without missing her. How was it that he'd now lost the only two women he'd ever loved? He blamed himself for their deaths, Ellen died at the hands of a man that was after Walker, and Alex died because of him.

He shook his head as if it were an Etch-A-Sketch, the image of Alex's face, calm and serene, faded. He refused to let himself wallow. He wanted to get out of here; he hated hospitals.

The nurse appeared only moments after he pressed the call button.

"Mr. Walker!" she exclaimed. "You're awake! Let me call the doctor." She hustled out of the room before Walker could say anything.

The doctor came into the room less than five minutes later, a huge smile on his face. "Welcome back Mr. Walker. You've been out for quite some time. How are you feeling?"

"Fine. When can I get out of here?"

The doctor chuckled, apparently amused. "Not so fast Mr. Walker. Let's check things out." He checked the monitors, Walker's pulse and listened to his lungs. He made general sounds of encouragement and approval. Next, he checked the entry and exit wounds of the bullet wounds. "How's the pain?" he asked.

"Fine." Walker said shortly.

The doctor stared him down, a look bordering on disapproval plastered on his face. Walker stared right back and, recognizing defeat, the doctor backed down.

"Alright, well, things look like they're healing nicely. You've been out for quite some time."

"How long?" Walker asked.

"Three months. It was touch and go there for awhile." He was interrupted by his pager. "I'm sorry, I have to go. Please call the nurses if you need anything."

"When can I get out of here?" Walker asked.

"It could be awhile, Mr. Walker. You're going to need extensive physical therapy. Being in a coma for three months means you've lost muscle mass. I'm afraid you still have a long way to go before you can be released." With those disappointing words, the doctor hurried from the room.

Walker leaned back against the pillows, glaring at the door the doctor had just walked through. Testing himself, he raised his arms above his head and held them there. For the first time since he woke up he smiled. Loss of muscle mass. Right. Lowering his arms he focused his attention on his legs. He raised his right leg first, but he only made it a few inches off the bed before it started shaking. Same with the left. Now he was frowning; he had lost muscle mass. But he would get it back. To prove it, he maneuvered the wires attaching him to various monitors and hoisted himself out of bed. His left leg was shaking badly, but he could still support his own weight. Taking slow steps, he made a lap of the room, then another, and another.

"Hey partner."

Trivette's voice startled him and Walker whirled around to stare at the door. Trivette, Gage, and Sydney were clustered there, looking at him with faces filled with anxiety and happiness.

"Hi." Walker said. He wanted to know how they'd found out he was awake. He didn't want to see anyone when he was like this. He was suddenly exhausted and slowly began to make his way back to his bed. Gage made a move as though to help him, but Sydney placed a soft hand on his arm, cautioning him to stay put. It was the first physical contact they'd had in a month and Gage felt a sense of familiarity. He looked at his partner and she smiled at him. Gage's hopes soared; maybe things could go back to normal now that Walker was okay.

"How are you feeling?" Trivette asked once Walker was sitting down again.

"Fine. I'm ready to go home." He knew something was wrong when Trivette faltered and Sydney and Gage shared a worried look. "What?"

"Walker, the guys that…hurt you…burned down the ranch. There was nothing left."

"Oh. Okay." Walker's tone was purposefully indifferent, and Trivette rushed to continue.

"But I found a contractor and they're working on rebuilding the ranch as we speak. It took awhile to clear everything out, but it should be ready in a few months."

"Fine." Walker was showing no emotion, it was like he was shutting down. Trivette didn't know what to do, it was like he was Walker's new partner again and he was getting the silent treatment. Trivette didn't know what else to say. He knew he needed to say something about Alex but he didn't know where to begin. Walker beat him to it.

"How was the funeral?"

Trivette was so taken aback by the question that it was Gage who answered first.

"It was beautiful, Walker." There was something so honest and so sad in his words that for a moment Sydney wanted to put her arms around him and squeeze, swearing to never let go. She restrained herself with difficulty. As far as she was concerned, she'd already screwed things up enough between her and Gage.

Walker nodded, asking for no further details.

Trivette cleared his throat. "Well, we'll let you get some rest. I've brought you some clothes; I know you hate hospital gowns." Trivette chuckled as he remembered past complaints but sobered almost immediately. He set the bag on the chair. "Call us if you need anything." He added before leaving. Gage offered a small smile then followed him out. Sydney hesitated, and then stepped further into the room. She moved toward the bed and placed one small hand on top of Walker's.

"I'm sorry." She breathed, the sensation that always preceded tears flooding her body. She smiled sadly one last time and hurried from the room.

Walker stared at the door they'd just exited and leaned his head back against his pillows. They were hurting and he knew he'd done nothing to assuage those feelings. He couldn't help it. Alex's face kept filling his mind and he found himself trying to push those images away, to push memories of her away. It wasn't healthy, he knew; he needed to deal with what had happened. He needed to deal with everything. Alone. He knew his partners would leave him alone if he asked. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that he, for the second time in his life, had failed to protect the one person in this world he loved more than anyone else. Gage, Sydney, and Trivette didn't know what happened in the house; all they knew was that Alex had died at the hands of men who had never killed before. They didn't know that it was Walker's fault that Alex died. If he couldn't protect her, how could he have his partner's back out in the field? How could they trust him to back them up if they knew he couldn't even protect his own wife?

He rang the nurse again and asked for a pen and paper. She brought it along with a cup of water and some Jell-O. He pushed it away and began to write, drafting three letters. When he was finished, he called her back in and asked her to remove his IV and everything else that was attaching him to a monitor. When she refused, he began to do it himself. She rushed from the room to call the doctor, who admonished Walker as though he was a small child. Walker stayed firm; he was leaving. He wouldn't spend one more night in this hospital. He grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt out of the bag Trivette had brought. On second glance, he realized there were socks and shoes in there as well. Feeling around, he noticed that his wallet was in there too, freshly filled with twenties. There was a cell phone, a new one, with his old numbers already programmed in, one of which was the number for a cab company. The last thing Walker pulled out, still ignoring the protests of the doctor was a small booklet, a funeral program. He picked it up and held it, finally responding to the doctor without actually looking at him.

"I'm leaving. I'll check myself."

"You'll have to do it AMA." Against medical advice.

Walker nodded his assent. "Get the paperwork." The doctor motioned to the nurse and they left Walker alone in the room. He changed quickly, dialed the cab company on his new phone, and filled out the paperwork the doctor shoved at him. His cab pulled up out front and he left the hospital without a backwards glance.

* * *

Trivette hung up the phone on his desk with a resigned look.

"What? What happened?" Sydney asked.

"Walker checked himself out of the hospital."

"What? How did he do that?" Gage exclaimed.

"He just left." Trivette said. "He checked himself out against medical advice and left."

"Where is he going to go?" Sydney asked.

"I don't know." Trivette said honestly. It was the truth. He had a hunch, but he didn't know for sure.

"He's not strong enough to be by himself." Gage insisted. "He just woke up from the coma today. How is it even possible that he got up and walked out of there? He would be too weak."

"It's Walker." Trivette said simply. "He's not going to let physical limitations get in his way."

"Well, should we go try to find him or something?" Sydney asked.

Trivette shook his head. "He needs to be alone. He'll come back when he's ready." He knew it was the truth, the same way he'd known that Walker would not want to stay in that hospital. He knew Walker would try to leave, and it wasn't up to Trivette to stop him. So when he was packing the bag, he'd tossed in the shoes, the phone, and the funeral program. Walker needed to visit Alex's grave. He wouldn't have closure until he did that. He was sure that Walker would come back when he was ready, and not a minute before then.

* * *

Walker stared down at the headstone. He knelt and placed a dozen white roses on the grass right in front of it. White roses were Alex's favorite. They had been, anyway.

"I am so sorry." He whispered. He felt a tear slide down his cheek and off his chin; he watched fall to the ground and soak through the grass. "I love you." He brushed his hand over the elegant script bearing her name and then he was gone.


	8. Chapter 8

I know the wait has been long, and this chapter is short, but this is meant to be a transition into the next part of the story. Please let me know what you think!

* * *

Simultaneously, the three Rangers flashed back to the present. The story ended there with Alex dead, Walker gone, and no leads. As the weeks turned into months, the hope that Walker would return had grown dim. Gage and Sydney had grown steadily more silent, despite Trivette's attempts to get them to talk to someone, anyone. The partnership as it had been in the glory days had gone, leaving three hollow replicas of Rangers in its place. That was how they looked now sitting in CDs, empty beer bottles cluttering the table. To an outside observer, they looked like a group of people that had had a hard day and were unwinding with a couple of beers. A more observant spectator would notice the exhaustion lined on each face, the worry lines etched into the foreheads, the sadness in the expressions.

They sat like that for almost a half an hour, each lost in their own reflection until Sydney posed the question they were all silently asking.

"Do you think he'll ever come back?"

Trivette answered slowly. "I think that we have to trust Walker. He's never let us down before."

"He's never left us before either." Gage responded.

Sydney spoke up. "He wouldn't have left if he didn't think we could handle it."

"Handle it? Syd, we're not handling it!" Gage retorted angrily. "Look at us!"

Before Sydney could answer, Trivette stepped in. "Guys, listen. This isn't working. I don't know if Walker is going to come back. But sitting here pining over it isn't helping anything. You two have barely spoken a word to each other in the last five months. We can't work like this." He lowered his voice. "Listen. I've spoken to the Commissioner. I've got transfers lined up for both of you to different companies. You won't have to work with each other or me anymore, and you can still be Rangers. I can't guarantee we won't see each other at all, but if you think this will help you move on, just say the word." His monologue was met with blank stares with just a hint of incredulity.

"Trivette, no one wants to be transferred." Gage stated bluntly, not even looking at Sydney for confirmation, though she nodded in agreement.

"We can't run away from this." She said.

"Fine. Then I need you two to work with me here. We have a case to solve. We can't do that if you two aren't entirely focused." He readjusted his tone again. "I get it, guys. I get that it's hard. It's hard for me too. Walker was my partner for years and now he's gone. Alex was my best friend for years, and now she's gone too. But neither of them would want us sitting around not talking to each other. We need to work through this. And the only way to do that is to do it together."

Gage and Sydney shared a glance and she slid her hand into his. The both turned to look at Trivette at the same time, and Sydney slid her other hand into Trivette's open one on the table. Blatantly ignoring what anyone else might think, Gage took Trivette's other hand and they sat like that for a long time.

* * *

Hours later Gage was sitting on his couch, the same couch that had held his and Sydney's anguished tryst months earlier. In his hands was a single piece of paper, worn from being folded and unfolded so many times, fragile from being tightly tucked into his wallet for so many months and slightly blotchy where tears had fallen the first time he read it.

_Gage,_

_Knowing you, this letter will leave you angry and upset. I am truly sorry for that. Please understand that I only left because I don't know what else to do. I don't consider myself a cowardly man, though you may view me that way now. The truth is I don't know how to go through life without Alex. While I'm trying to heal, I can't trust myself with my own life, let alone anyone else's._

_What I want you to know is that you have my utmost respect, both as a Ranger and a human being. You've had my admiration from day one, when you had a beer bottle shattered on the back of your head. You have a good soul Gage, whether you know that or not. I see that in you, and I know that Sydney does as well._

_You're anger as you read this is expected and not out of line at all. I would be angry if I received something like this. You probably feel abandoned, something I know you've experienced growing up in foster care. Remember Gage that your anger can be your greatest weapon, but only if you know how to channel it. Use it to your advantage, let it help you move on in life; become a better man._

_Please don't dwell on my departure, nor on Alex's, neither of us want that. Be happy._

_May the spirits guide you always,_

_Walker_

* * *

Sydney was lying in bed, a similar sheet of paper in her hands. She'd tried and failed to fall asleep, as she had many nights in the past few months. Instinctively, she'd grabbed her bag off her desk and rummaged in it until she found what she was looking for: Walker's letter. She had it memorized, but there was just something about actually reading the words on the page that made it seem more real somehow.

_Sydney,_

_Words cannot express how proud I am of you. You have overcome so much both personally and professionally to get to where you are today. You've never let anything hold you back; I saw the fire in you the day you and Gage took down El Leon. From that day on, you continued to gain both my respect and admiration and I would trust you with my life._

_The problem is that right now, you can't trust me with yours. I need some time to reflect; time to heal, before I can think about coming back to work. I want to be assured that I can back up my partners; because I don't know what I would do if something happened to one of you._

_One thing I want you to remember is that Alex considered you her best friend. She told me so often, and I want you to know how grateful I am that you were there for her through so many ups and downs. You protected her more than once and I can't thank you enough for that._

_Focus on your future which is as bright as the stars in the night sky._

_May the spirits guide you always,_

_Walker_

* * *

Trivette had left CD's last and on the drive home had thought about his younger partners. He hoped that he had made some kind of progress tonight; it certainly felt as if they had. He knew it was going to take time; he wasn't looking for an instantaneous fix, but it was time for things to start moving forward. He pulled into his garage and turned off his car, opening the glove box as he did so. Walker's letter was stashed in there; with Walker and Walker's truck no longer with the team, Trivette's car had become the lead vehicle. Knowing the letter was in the glove box made him feel like a part of Walker was there with him, guiding him along the way.

_Trivette,_

_We have come so far from the days where you were still "Trivit" to me. I want you to know that I called you that with only the deepest respect. I'll admit that I had my doubts when you first climbed out of the pool in that multicolored Speedo you were so fond of, but you quickly proved yourself not only to me, but to everyone around us._

_I think you'll understand why I'm leaving; I'm assuming it was you who packed my bag. I don't know if I'll come back; consider this a temporary leave of absence until further notice. I want you to take over for me as the head of the task force. Keep an eye on Gage and Sydney; you and I both know they're going to need each other to get through all of this._

_My hope for you is that you learn to trust your gut instincts. You've always commented on my Cherokee instinct, but you're right just as often as I am. You should be confident in your decisions, there's no need for second guessing. It's time you show everyone else what I already know: James Trivette is on his way to becoming the next legendary Ranger._

_You've always had my back, without fail, and I'm leaving for now because I can't promise to have yours until I can clear my head and re-focus my thoughts. I know you can lead our team forward and it's about time you understood that too._

_May the spirits be with you always,_

_Walker_

* * *

Had anyone been monitoring the lights in Dallas, they would have noticed that three lights in three different parts of town turned off almost simultaneously. Trivette, Gage, and Sydney all went to sleep dreaming of tomorrow when they would finally start to heal.


	9. Chapter 9

Yes, I know I'm a terrible person for not updating sooner. But I am very sorry and I hope this chapter makes up for things. It's on the short side, but I plan to have a few quick updates before I leave town this weekend. Please review!

* * *

Sydney had awakened the next morning feeling more refreshed than ever. She took a shower, wolfed down a bowl of cereal, and was just grabbing her bag when there was a knock at the door. Cursing the fact that she was going to be late, she wrenched it open only to be greeted by her partner's hesitantly smiling face.

"Hey Shorty." Gage smiled.

"Gage. Hi." Sydney's face showed her confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Oh! Nothing. I, uh, I was just wondering if you needed a ride to work."

Sydney crinkled her brow. "Why would I need a ride to work?"

Gage nervously chuckled. "I don't know. I just thought it would be like old times. If you don't want to -"

"No! I mean, I'd love a ride to work. That'd be great." Sydney smiled. Gage's face morphed into a smile that Sydney hadn't seen for seven months. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed it.

* * *

Trivette, as usual, was already seated and working at his desk when Gage and Sydney arrived. His attention was immediately drawn to the fact that they had arrived together and were actually carrying on a conversation as they settled in. He smiled to himself, pleased that the two Junior Rangers appeared to be making progress so soon after last night. He knew, of course, that the path of healing was a long one, but at least both of them were making an effort. It was better than nothing.

Though he needed to talk to them about the Jamie Carr case, he waited for almost a half hour before approaching them. By then, things had lapsed into a comfortable silence that Company B Headquarters hadn't felt in many months. Frankly, Trivette hoped it wasn't too good to be true.

As it turned out, it wasn't. Over the next three weeks, things continued to improve for all of the Rangers. They went to CDs almost every night and over nachos and beers talked about a multitude of things, good and bad. It was getting to the point where sharing memories of Alex and Walker didn't cause pain or heartache. It was nice to finally be able to remember them in a good light. The sadness was still there of course, as was the curiosity that surrounded Walker's potential return, but it wasn't the forefront of the conversation anymore. Smiles and laughter were becoming more commonplace; as was the lighthearted between Gage and Sydney teasing Trivette had missed more than he thought possible. He was feeling more confident in his position as the leader of this team and he found himself being able to make decisions without wondering what Walker would have done. As a whole, they were finally moving on.

* * *

Three weeks after their initial heart to heart at CDs, Trivette, Gage, and Sydney could be found sitting clustered around Trivette's desk, having a heated discussion.

"We can't do this yet, we're not prepared enough!" Gage was saying.

Trivette tried to keep his voice level. "We can't be any more prepared than we already are. Carr just got a major shipment, if we don't move now; an opportunity like this may not come up again for a long time."

"If we do this now, the risk is incredibly high. I think we should take our chances and wait. More time can't hurt." Gage insisted.

"And how many more people will fall victim to Carr while we're waiting?" Trivette asked. "The drugs he's selling are more pure than anything else on the street. People are overdosing every day. If we can nab this shipment, that's less on the street."

Sydney stepped in. "Gage, Trivette's right. If we don't do this now, we're responsible for anyone that dies once that shipment hits the street."

"But we also wouldn't be responsible if something goes wrong. What if Carr's expecting this?"

The discussion had started early this morning and escalated throughout the day. Jamie Carr's drugs were becoming more and more potent and as they were, he was becoming more ruthless. He was executing his competition and anyone who possibly could have witnessed it. The death toll was mounting and the Commissioner and the mayor were pressing Trivette for results.

Trivette's solution was to send someone in posed as a buyer. Buying the drugs would keep them off the street and give the DA evidence to use against Carr in his trial. Gage had a point though, the last officer who went undercover had been found dead a short time later. Carr was endlessly suspicious and seemed to have an instinct for potential busts.

Gage understood this. He was actually on board with the whole posing-as-a-buyer thing. What he wasn't in agreement with was the fact that Trivette was going to be the one undercover. He knew he wasn't being objective and he knew Trivette's plan had merit. He just thought that having more time to prepare would help Trivette's chances of getting in and out alive.

"Waiting isn't going to make Carr any less suspicious." Trivette argued. "If anything, he's going to be waiting for a sting which will make it even more dangerous."

Gage was glaring daggers at Trivette as he tried to formulate his next argument. Sydney, seeing this, stepped in again. Personally, she didn't like the idea of Trivette going undercover either. Unlike Gage however, she was willing to concede that something needed to be done as soon as possible and that Trivette stood the best chance. She thought they were ready.

"Trivette, give us a minute." She requested, grabbing Gage's arm and pulling him away from the elder Ranger. Speaking directly to Gage she said, "You need some air." She half dragged him out the door and down the stairs, not stopping until they were standing on the steps of the building. Planting her hands on her hips, she stared Gage down. "What's up with you?"

Gage sighed and shook his head. "I don't know Syd." He raised his eyes to the sky.

"You're thinking about Alex."

"And Walker." He admitted. Sydney just looked at him, waiting for him to elaborate. "Syd, we just lost Alex and Walker might never come back. We can't lose Trivette too." His voice softened on the last sentence and Sydney just wanted to take him in her arms and give him a hug.

"Gage," she cajoled, "we have to do the job."

"I know that, I know." He was exasperated now, trying to make her understand his train of thought.

Seeing that he wasn't convinced, Sydney continued. "Gage, Trivette is an experienced Texas Ranger. We all are. Out of the three of us, he has the best chance of pulling this off, especially with us as backup. We're going to have his back the whole time. If something starts going wrong, we'll get him out of there."

"What if we don't?" he challenged.

"Gage, what if we do? If this works, Jamie Carr will be off the streets for good. We'll save lives. Stop focusing on the bad things that could happen because chances are they won't." She grabbed his hand with both of hers. "Gage, we have to do this. We can do this."

Gage looked at her for what felt like forever before finally he nodded. "Fine. Fine. Let's do this." He flashed her grin and led her back inside.

* * *

Two nights later, Trivette was settled in his crash pad, a plush studio apartment rented in the name of Damian Keller out of Los Angeles. Mr. Keller came with quite a history; he'd served a few years for selling cocaine and several more for assault with a deadly weapon. He hadn't killed anyone yet, but his reputation was that he was ruthless when pursuing something he wanted. He was known to hire people to get rid of those who got in his way, thus keeping his hands relatively clean. He was a reputable buyer who'd had great success in the past.

Jamie Carr found all of this out through several phone conversations with Mr. Keller's associates, clients, and friends. Of course, all of these people were actually other Texas Rangers working under the names of several current residents of Huntsville prison, who, according to their records, had been released early. Jamie Carr was satisfied with Damian Keller's background and agreed to an initial meet. There would be more digging later.

Trivette's whole place was bugged; Sydney and Gage were listening in a van just down the street when the call from one of Carr's associates came in, telling him to be at Dante's, a local club, at eleven that night. Business between Mr. Damian Keller and Mr. Jamie Carr had officially begun.


	10. Chapter 10

So, this is a really fast update, and I'm hoping it makes up for the shortness and the long delay of the last chapter. I haven't gotten any reviews on the last one, so I'm not sure if you haven't read it or if you have read it and hated it. Either way, let me know! Things start to heat up in this chapter, so let me know what you think!

* * *

Damian Keller sauntered into Dante's at ten past eleven that night and settled himself in at a table in the back. He ordered a vodka rocks and the drink arrived almost immediately. He was dressed entirely in black, black jeans, tight fitting black t-shirt and a black blazer. There was a small gold hoop in his right ear, courtesy of Sydney and a sterilized needle two nights before. Thankfully, his dark skin disguised the irritation plaguing the area.

Trivette sipped his drink, trying his best to maintain Damian Keller's persona. He surveyed the crowd on the dance floor, but didn't see any familiar faces. Glancing at the bar he noticed a large man staring at him. Trivette raised his glass in salute and took another sip. "Showtime." He muttered to himself as the man started towards him, thought the highly sensitive mike taped to his chest picked up every word.

"Mr. Keller?" he asked.

"That depends." Trivette sipped his drink. "Who wants to know?"

"I believe we have a mutual friend."

"Who would that be?"

"Someone who could meet your every need."

Trivette cursed silently. He needed something concrete. He knew this was Carr's guy, but so far they had nothing they could use in court. "What need do you think I have?"

Carr's associate looked around. "Let's go somewhere and discuss it."

"Listen," Trivette instructed, "I didn't come here to play games. You know what I want. I've got people lining up back home and if you can't give me what I need I'll find someone else who can. You know how to get in touch with me." Trivette stood, dropped a twenty on the table and started toward the door. He heard the protests of people behind him as Carr's associate pushed them out of the way. Once they were out the door, the man spoke.

"Wait a second."

Trivette paused but offered no words of encouragement or interest.

The man continued. "Mr. Carr would like to see you. He thinks that an arrangement with you could be mutually beneficial."

"Well, obviously I think that too, or else I wouldn't be here."

The associate laughed softly and offered his hand. "I'm Dale."

"Damian." Trivette took Dale's hand and shook it. "So, when do I meet the mysterious Mr. Carr?"

"In good time. We'll contact you."

"See that you do."

Trivette handed his parking ticket to the valet who returned a few minutes later with Damian Keller's car, a black Aston Martin Vanquish. He peeled out of the club's driveway leaving Dale standing alone. Dale took out his phone and made a call.

"Tell Mr. Carr things look promising."

* * *

The next morning, Damian Keller left his apartment to go get coffee at a local café. He sat at a table, back to back with a man with blonde tousled hair. Damian Keller sipped his coffee as a man behind him spoke.

"Everything alright?" Gage asked softly.

Trivette sipped his coffee. "Fine. Did you get everything last night?"

"Yeah. Syd ran down this Dale guy, it's probably Dale Jackson. He was a pal of Carr's before prison. After Carr took down Purcell, he made Jackson his number two. He does most of his bidding. He's bad news."

"I figured as much. Are they watching the apartment?"

"Yeah. Syd said they came by while you were at the club, broke in, stayed for ten minutes, and left. You were right about that one, the place is probably bugged now."

"You guys be careful; if they're keeping the apartment under surveillance they could make you."

"It's under control. We're going to switch out the van, keep out of sight. They probably won't keep you under surveillance long; Carr wants to get rid of the drugs."

"Yeah but still. We know what he's capable of. You guys be careful."

"You too."

Trivette stood and dropped his now empty coffee cup into the trash on his way out. As he drove back to his apartment he noticed the nondescript beige sedan following a few cars behind him the whole way. Everything was going as planned.

He hung around his apartment for most of the day, making calls for the benefit of whoever was listening. He talked to a few "buyers" back in LA who were anxious for the product. He swore to them he would have it soon, one way or another.

Dale Jackson listened to every word, becoming more convinced with each conversation. At four that afternoon, he made the call directly to Jamie Carr. "He looks good for it. He's got the clients lined up, he seems legit. Want me to pick him up tonight?"

"Yes, why don't you do that?" Carr said, his voice slightly muffled by the pillow on the massage table he was currently lying on. "Bring him here. I need to have a little chat with Mr. Damian Keller before we can do business."

* * *

Gage and Sydney were camped out in the nondescript SUV they'd parked down the street from Damian Keller's apartment. They were still able to listen to what went on inside, but things had been quiet for the past few hours, other than Trivette's staged phone calls. Gage was in the driver's seat, an almost empty cup of coffee in his lap. He heard Sydney sigh and he looked over at her as she closed the file she'd been reading on her lap for the past twenty minutes.

"What's up?"

She shook her head. "Nothing." She sipped her drink and Gage didn't press things. He knew it was too soon for that. As it turns out, she was willing to continue on her own. "Just this case. Right after Alex…after everything happened, I passed a man in the hallway of Headquarters. He was nearly hysterical and I tried to calm him down. I don't know why, I guess I just felt like my life was such a mess that I wanted to help him out. So anyway, we talked and he told me that his sister had gone missing a few days before, the day of the fire, actually. I told him I would look into it, but things just got away from me. I never really gave it the attention it deserved."

"Syd, we all had other things on our minds." Gage appeased.

"Yeah, I know. And the case didn't have much to go on to begin with, but I hate it when I know I didn't do everything possible to help someone."

"Syd, as much as I hate to say it, there's nothing you can do about it now. After we nail Carr, we can go back over this case and figure out what happened."

"Yeah, I know. We need to focus on getting Jamie Carr right now."

"Exactly." Gage grinned at her and then turned his eyes back toward the street. The smile faded. "Heads up." He jerked his head to indicate a black limo that was slowly cruising down the street. It came to a stop right in front of the apartment building Trivette was staying in. Sydney and Gage crouched down in their seats, even though the windows of their car were so tinted that no one had a chance of seeing in. Two men got out, one of whom was Dale Jackson, recognizable because of the fact that his picture was sitting on the dash. They entered the building.

Over the radio receiver linked to Trivette's apartment they heard three abrupt knocks, then the sound of the door opening.

"What's up?" came Trivette's voice.

"Mr. Keller. We met the other night, remember?" Dale Jackson spoke now.

"Of course. Have you heard back from our mutual friend?"

"I have. He wishes to speak with you."

"Let's do it then. I have clients waiting back home."

The sound of a door closing followed and moments later the three men exited the apartment building. Trivette was careful not to look anywhere near the car Gage and Sydney were in. He got into the limo without fuss and Gage and Sydney waited in anticipation for the conversation to begin.

To ensure Trivette's safety, a listening device was planted in one of the buttons of his shirt. Trivette had been dead set against wearing a wire, he thought the chances of Carr finding it were too high, but Gage had been relentless. He argued that the button device appeared normal enough to not cause suspicion should Trivette be searched. Another button on the shirt actually contained a tracking device so that they could pinpoint Trivette's location should something go awry. Gage was still marveling at the technological advances of the past few years even as a small dot popped up on their GPS screen, showing the limo's path as it pulled away from the building. They waited five minutes and followed.

* * *

Jamie Carr's substantial estate was nearly an hour away from Damian Keller's apartment. The car ride there was silent, though the mood in the limo was relatively light. Dale Jackson had not spoken since they'd left the apartment, nor had the burly man sitting next to him that seemed incapable of doing anything but glare. Trivette assumed Gage and Sydney were travelling a safe distance behind the limo and consequentially felt very protected. He trusted them with his life and he had told them as much last week during one of their many planning meetings.

The long car ride finally ended as the limo pulled into a discreet driveway blocked by a gate. The driver said a few words to a guard standing there and the gate swung forward to let them in. Trivette surreptitiously looked around, getting his bearings while trying not to look too interested. Damian Keller was used to this kind of wealth.

One good thing Trivette had noted was that he had not been blindfolded. This could mean, of course, that Carr was onto him and was going to kill him as soon as he got out of the car. But something in Dale Jackson's posture suggested that this wasn't the case. More likely, Damian Keller had checked out, and business could begin.

This theory was reinforced when his door was swung open by a well dressed valet and he was lead inside Jamie Carr's manse, his coat was removed, he was offered a drink (which he accepted) and led into a study of sorts with two plush armchairs facing a large desk. He settled into the chair nearest the desk and waited, occasionally glancing at his watch or sipping his drink, appearing to any observer totally at ease.

Ten minutes after his arrival the door to the study swung open and Trivette stood, offering his hand to none other than Jamie Carr himself. Carr had obviously put his new-found wealth to use; he was no longer the scrawny kid he'd been in prison but a buff, tan, and extremely well dressed man. He took Trivette's hand and shook at as though they were old friends. Trivette wasn't fooled though, Carr was a good actor.

"Ah, Mr. Keller. So sorry to keep you waiting." Carr began.

_Of course you are_. "No problem at all. Let's get started." Trivette answered.

"Straight to business. I like it. But please, tell me about yourself."

Trivette gave the short version of Damian Keller's history, knowing that hitting every detail would seem more suspicious than leaving some things out. He breezed through Carr's questions of past buyers and sellers, and was able to deflect musings about how their mutual contacts had never mentioned Mr. Keller before.

"I tend to keep a low profile." Trivette said. "Something I'm sure you understand."

Carr nodded his agreement. "Tell me about your clientele."

"Mr. Carr," Trivette began, "I understand your caution. But my clients have waited long enough; they're getting impatient. If we can't make a deal, I will find another supplier."

"Not so fast Mr. Keller. I didn't say we couldn't make a deal. I was only trying to be polite."

Trivette studied the man sitting before him. Carr was from a rough neighborhood but like all big players in the drug world, he'd managed to perfect his speech patterns. He sounded schooled even though he hadn't made it past the tenth grade. The better his speech, the better the actor and the better the actor, the more dangerous the man.

"I can appreciate that. I'm only asking you to understand my situation. My arrangement with my normal supplier fell through due to unforeseen circumstances. I'm in a bind and I'm willing to offer a fair price. I'm told your product is one of the best-"

"My product is the best, Mr. Keller. I can assure you of that. You have the money?"

"Of course."

"Where is it?"

"Not here. I'm not stupid, Mr. Carr."

"Please call me Jamie. And might I inquire as to the specific location of the money?"

"I can get it_, _and I mean_ only_ I can get it. Name your price and I'll get you the cash tomorrow."

Carr studied him. "You're reputation says you're good for it."

"I am. I have too many clients not to be."

"Very well. Tomorrow then. But now, if you'll forgive me for the late hour, I haven't eaten. Would you care to join me?"

"It's after midnight." Trivette stated bluntly.

"True. What's another hour or two?"

Trivette was in a bind. If he said yes, he could be walking into a trap. If he said no, Carr would peg him as being anxious. He took the gamble.

"Sure. What're we having?" he dropped Damian Keller's business voice for only a second just to assure Carr that he was completely at ease.

"I don't know what my chef prepared, but I assure you, it will be delicious. Ah, here is the food now." He looked over Trivette's shoulder to the doorway. "Just set it on the desk."

Trivette turned slightly in his chair to see who was coming in, his hand travelling instinctively to his back, where his gun was concealed. He needn't have worried. A young woman was shuffling into the room, her head down, eyes on the floor. She was blonde and very thin, wearing only a short blue cotton shift that was worn but clean. Keeping her eyes on the floor she made her way to the desk where she set down the tray she'd been carrying. She set a plate in front of Trivette, not making eye contact, and did the same for Carr. Trivette's mind wasn't on the food though, he was making a mental note to tell Gage and Sydney that there was at least one potential hostage in this house; this woman obviously wasn't here voluntarily. She was pouring red wine for each of them when Carr spoke.

"How does it look Mr. Keller?"

"Delicious. Since I've been in Dallas I've been surviving on fast food and takeout, I'm not much of a cook."

The woman pouring the wine was no longer paying attention to it; her eyes were on Trivette's face. As Trivette's cup overflowed with the red liquid Carr screeched and demanded immediate cleanup.

"You stupid bitch!" he roared before raising his fist and backhanding her cheek.

The woman whimpered and fell to the floor.

"Get the hell out of my sight!"

She scrambled to her feet and began backing out of the room keeping her eyes on Trivette.

He almost did a double take, but thankfully caught himself before Carr noticed. The frail blonde woman backing out of the room looked wonderfully familiar.

It was Alex.


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, you're feedback is greatly appreciated. Also, sorry I was so grumpy about Chapter 9 reviews, I don't know what came over me. Anyway, I hope this chapter clears up any questions the last one left lingering, let me know what you think!

* * *

"Mr. Keller, I am so sorry about that. We'll get you cleaned up immediately." Jamie Carr kept apologizing but Trivette wasn't paying attention; his focus was still on the recently closed door Alex had just backed out of. A million questions were running through his head. How was she still alive? Had that really just happened? Who had they buried in her place? How the hell had she ended up here?

"Mr. Keller?" Jamie Carr prompted again, and Trivette jerked out of his reverie, snapping back into Damian Keller in an instant.

"Yeah. No problem, the wine is all over my shirt though." He said and as he did he realized with a sinking heart that the listening device and the GPS buttons on his shirt probably hadn't survived. He was right.

* * *

"What the hell?" Gage yelled, jerking the headphones out of his ear. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Sydney answered, panicked. "We're totally dark though, we can't hear and we can't track."

"We've got to go in there. Call for backup." Gage instructed, grabbing his gun.

Sydney pulled him back into the car before he could leave. "Gage, we have to think about this for a minute."

"We can think later, we have to get Trivette out of there."

"Gage, we have backup plans for this reason. We can't just barge in there; we'd be destroying all the prep work we've done."

"Syd, we can't just leave him in there."

"Gage, will you shut up and listen for once in your life?" Sydney yelled.

Gage stared at her.

"Thank you. We talked about this a week ago. If something happened with the devices, we agreed to wait twenty four hours before going in."

"Yeah, and that sounded fine a week ago, but now it's actually happening and I'm not so sure I like it."

"Gage, I don't like it either. We'll stay here and watch the house. At least that way if they leave we can follow them."

"Yeah, we'll follow them to the dump site where they'll leave Trivette's body.

Sydney let out a slow breath. "Gage. Calm down. I know this is hard, but we set things up like this for a reason." She slipped one of her hands in his. "If Carr made Trivette, he's going to interrogate him to find out what he knows and who he's told. He's in no immediate danger."

"Well that makes things all better." He said sarcastically. He ran his hands through his hair, messing it up even more and looked into Sydney's eyes, filled with concern and determination. He sighed. "Fine, we'll wait. But I'm calling for a backup unit with heat radar. At least we can try to figure out where in that house he is."

"Fine. That's a good idea." Sydney agreed, and made the call, leaving Gage staring out the windshield hoping that he wasn't letting Trivette down.

* * *

Back inside Trivette had removed his shirt, leaving him in a red wine-stained white T-shirt. Had it not been Alex who spilled the wine, he would have assumed that this was Carr's way of looking for a wire. Carr was no longer apologizing, but rather cursing incompetent help.

"Stupid bitch. Can't even pour a cup of wine. And takes forever to come back and clean up the damn mess – oh, here she is. It's about time!" he yelled at her.

Trivette whirled around and saw Alex in the doorway again. This time he instantly recognized her, taking note of the longer hair, the extremely thin frame and the exhaustion on her face. The thing that bothered him most was her eyes, one of which was already bruising where Carr had hit her. As long as he'd known Alex her eyes had been full of fire, especially when she was in a dangerous situation. But now, they just looked empty. It had been eight months since the fire and Trivette had no idea what had happened to her in that time. With a sinking feeling he realized that she had given up. She was no longer waiting for anyone to come rescue her.

He watched as she slowly walked into the room clutching a damp rag and a basin of water. Carr was still yelling at her but Trivette was tuning him out. All he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and get her out of here and back to Walker. Walker. He needed to get a hold of Walker; he needed to know that his wife was still alive!

"Apologize to Mr. Keller! You've ruined his good shirt!" Carr demanded.

"Very sorry, sir." Alex mumbled, not meeting Trivette's eye. "May I?" she indicated the rag she was holding and gestured toward the shirt Trivette was wearing, indicating that she wanted to scrub it.

"Fine." He said, maintaining Keller's persona even as it broke his heart to speak to her so gruffly.

Alex began scrubbing at his shirt. Carr was staring at her in disgust and finally excused himself as his phone rang, leaving Alex and Trivette alone.

Glancing around, Trivette grabbed her hand. She kept scrubbing. He gently touched her chin with his other hand and tilted her head up until she was looking straight at him. Her eyes searched his and for a moment there was a spark of hope there. They heard Carr approaching and Alex's eyes became empty again.

Trivette noticed this and managed, before Carr re-entered the room, to whisper, "I will get you out of here."

Alex nodded once and stepped away from him, gathering the rag and water she'd come in with. His shirt was ruined, but that was the least of his concerns. She had almost made it out the door when Carr came into view. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and shoved her out of the room, sending her crashing into the wall opposite. Carr slammed the door shut and faced Trivette.

"It is so hard to find good help these days." He quipped. "I'll get you a new shirt, but let's eat before things get too cold." He positioned himself behind his desk and Trivette sat across from him.

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Trivette decided to steer the conversation around to Alex.

"She been with you long?" he asked, as though he'd had plenty of help himself.

"About eight months. You'd think she'd be capable by now."

"Russian?" Trivette asked.

"Local, believe it or not." Carr chuckled.

"Really? Seems too pretty for a local girl."

Carr laughed. "Came on her by accident actually."

"Funny how that happens." Trivette forced a laugh that sounded passable to his own ears.

Carr was loosening up now, a combination of the late hour and the alcohol he'd consumed during the day. "Yeah, back in the day Dale and me-you met Dale-we had a sweet thing going with my brother."

"Yeah?" Trivette feigned ignorance.

"Oh yeah. I was working for someone else back then and he had us going in and heisting stuff from a bunch of rich people." The alcohol was loosening his tongue, and he was slipping back into his old speech patterns. "We'd go in, tie 'em up and party the night away."

"Sounds like fun." Trivette deadpanned, pretending to sip his drink. He needed a clear head, especially if this was going where he thought it was.

"So anyway, we were lifting stuff like no other. It was great; we'd take it, bring it back to Purcell and reap the rewards."

"So what happened?" his heart was pounding in his chest now.

"Well, we come across this ranch one night, all by itself in the middle of nowhere. We stake it out and it looks perfect, just this dude and his wife living there. We break in while they're both gone; the wife comes home first, the dude awhile after that. At first we thought we were screwed."

"Why's that?" Trivette prompted, his heart racing.

"Because this guy comes in and starts using these ninja kung-fu moves and almost takes us down. Me and Dale, we're fighting this guy and he's taking both of us down. My brother turned on the lights and the dude stopped; I don't think he liked the sight of his wife sitting there with a gun to her head." Carr laughed.

"So you took her?" Trivette asked.

"We weren't planning on it. But the guy got loose and started fighting again. We shot him up pretty good but he wasn't going down without a fight. So I pick the girl up and throw her through the table in their dining room, it knocked her out. Dale shoots the guy again and misses, and the guy lunges for Michael-that's my brother- he goes for his gun. The gun goes off and the guy let go. I don't know why he let go, but Michael took advantage of it and kicked him in the head and the guy was out. At first we thought the girl was dead too, there was a ton of blood around her, but then we saw that the gunshot had missed her and gone straight into the floor next to her. The guy had lost so much blood it was all over the place, it just looked like it was coming from her. So when we figured out the girl was still alive, we decided, why not? So we took her."

"That easily?" Trivette raised his eyebrows.

"Hell yeah! We set fire to the place; it was so far out of the way we figured the guy would burn with it. No one would notice that they didn't find a second body, but get this. They did."

"What?"

"They found two bodies in that fire. They dragged the man out, he lived apparently; I don't know the details. But they found a second body in there, all charred up. I heard they buried her in this one's place."

"You lucked out on that one Jamie." Trivette said, purposely using Carr's first name.

"Tell me about it. And she's been with me ever since."

"What happened to your brother and the guy you used to work for? Purcell? They didn't want her?"

"They did, that was the problem. I found her, I should get to keep her, and I told them that. They both disagreed and then they both mysteriously died." Carr flashed a mischievous grin and Trivette forced himself to laugh again, gearing him up for the next question he hated to ask, but needed to.

"She good?"

"In the sack you mean? Wouldn't know."

"Yeah, right." Trivette scoffed.

"Seriously! It's my experience that it's more fun to keep them scared. If they don't know what's coming they behave better. I save that for the end."

Trivette's sigh of relief was masqueraded by a shaking of his head. "Damn. I don't think I could keep myself away from a woman that fine." As he said it he imagined Walker pounding his face in for talking about Alex that way.

"Hasn't been easy." Carr acknowledged.

The two drifted into a companionable silence and Trivette checked his watch.

"Well, Jamie, this has been fun, but I've got to be heading out. Things to do, people to call, banks to withdraw cash from. I trust you'll call tomorrow?"

"Nonsense." Carr got to his feet. "It's much too late for you to go home now; by the time you do it'll be time to head to the bank. Why don't you stay here, that way we can get an early start tomorrow morning and you can be on your way to LA with the product by tomorrow afternoon."

Trivette hesitated. He needed to talk with Gage and Sydney immediately and tell them what he'd learned. Insisting on leaving would look suspicious though. "I couldn't impose on you like that. I'll just head home and we can speak tomorrow at your convenience."

"No really, I insist. I have plenty of room here. It's settled, you're staying."

Trivette didn't have any other choice. "Well then, thank you very much."

Carr smiled. "I'll have Alex show you to your room."

"Alex?" Trivette asked.

"The incompetent girl you find so attractive."

"Well then, I can't complain." Trivette smiled.

The two shook hands and Carr pressed a discreet button on his desk. Moments later Alex appeared in the doorway again.

"Show Mr. Keller to his room. See if you can do that without spilling anything else." Carr barked.

"Yes sir." Alex said. She looked at Trivette, "Mr. Keller, if you'll follow me."

"Good night Damian" Carr said as Trivette left the study.

Trivette raised his hand in salute and followed Alex out of the room.

Carr pressed another button on his desk and Dale Jackson strode in. "Well?" Dale asked.

"Something's off." Carr insisted. He jerked his head toward the wine glass Trivette had been drinking out of. "Run the prints. Fast. I want to know who he is by tomorrow morning."

"No need." Dale smiled. "I took the liberty of taking this out of his apartment when we bugged it." He lifted a glass triumphantly. "I know exactly who Mr. Damian Keller is."


	12. Chapter 12

So, here's the next chapter. Unfortunately, I have no idea when the next update will be, as I am going on vacation for ten days. Updates will just depend on when I can get Internet access, but at the latest it will be about eleven days from now. Thanks in advance for bearing with me! Oh, and you can still review, it would be lovely to check in and see tons of feedback :)

* * *

Her head hurt. Her whole body hurt. She was sitting on a crate in a warehouse somewhere, or at least, that's what she thought. Her wrists and ankles were tied and she was tightly gagged. Looking herself over, she saw a lot of blood and momentarily panicked before she realized that she didn't appear to be badly injured, other than a few cuts and a lot of bruises. And then she remembered. She remembered Walker's panicked eyes when he'd come home and been jumped. She remembered being taken to the bathroom and Walker getting loose somehow. And the fight. She remembered the fight like it had just happened; her head was full of replays of Walker getting shot over and over. She could still feel herself smashing into the dining room table and it shattering beneath her. And then it all went black, at least until now.

Though it was dark, she could still make out the shapes of three male bodies, presumably the three that had come to her house. Two of them were arguing, shouting at each other.

"Damn it Michael!" the first one yelled. "Why didn't you check on the man?"

"I shot him like seven times Jamie, there's no way he lived." The other shouted back. Alex's heart sank. They were talking about Walker. Walker was dead. Surely that's why she was stuck here with these animals; Walker wouldn't have let this happen if he was still alive. She turned her thoughts back to the screaming match unfolding in front of her. She took the opportunity to try and get her hands free; none of the men noticed her struggling.

"You don't know that! You might have ruined everything!" Jamie screamed.

"Ruined what? Purcell will take care of it. We got the goods, so what if he lived? He didn't see our faces." Michael reasoned.

"That's not the point! I needed him gone! I needed him dead!"

"You needed him dead? Jamie, what do you mean you needed him dead?" Michael asked slowly.

The man called Jamie shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing. But this is going to get a lot more press now, Antoine's not going to like it."

"Jamie, listen to your big brother for once in your life. Antoine will be fine. We have the goods; they'll fetch a pretty penny. And we get to give him a bonus for this one."

"What are you talking about?"

Michael jerked his head toward Alex, who was still struggling against the ropes that held her tight. "He gets her. That'll make everything all better." He met Alex's eyes and leered. "Do you think he'll let me take a crack at her?"

"She's mine." Jamie stated bluntly.

"I don't think so little brother. Finders keepers."

"Exactly. I picked the house, I found her. Hands off."

"You wish." He walked to where Alex was still struggling, cupping her cheek in his hand. "You and I," he said softly, "would be very good together."

To Alex, it felt like she was back at Casa Diablo, helpless against Cruz Ortega. She felt her eyes well up and fiercely willed them not to spill over. She braced herself as Michael moved his hands down, caressing her breasts. Before he could go any farther though, he flew away from her. She screamed through the gag as he went crashing into the floor. Jamie was standing in front of her, looking livid.

"I said she's mine!" he screamed. "I won't let you ruin this too!"

"What the hell are you talking about? I haven't ruined anything. And you need to watch the way you talk to me!" Michael yelled, getting to his feet.

Jamie took several deep breaths. "Fine. You know what? You're right. He turned so he was facing Alex. "I'm sorry." He slid a hand into his jacket and pulled out a gun. Alex's eyes grew wide, but instead of aiming it at her he whirled around and fired three shots into Michael's chest. Michael's face contorted into an expression of shock as he crumpled to the floor. Jamie calmly walked over to him and glared down at the dying man, eyes full of contempt.

"Why?" Michael whispered.

"You might have ruined everything." Jamie said, emotionless. He raised the gun one more time and fired directly into Michael's skull.

"You know what to do." He said, and Dale stepped out of the shadows where he had been watching the exchange between the brothers. Dale nodded and dragged the body out of sight.

Jamie walked over to Alex as he holstered his gun. "Sorry you had to see that. But now you know what will happen to you if you misbehave." He bent down so that his eyes were level with hers. "I don't want to hurt you. I think you'll be very useful. But until then…" his voice trailed off. He scooped Alex up in his arms and carried her across the warehouse, holding on to her as though she weighed nothing even as she struggled wildly. Jamie got a kick out of the way that felt, being totally in control over her, being totally in control of the situation with his brother. That was what he longed for; control, power, and dominance. That was why he needed his brother out of the way. There was only one other person he had to get rid of. Once he could get rid of Antoine, he would be in charge.

Jamie came to a halt next to a large empty crate. Alex realized what it was for and tried desperately to get loose, even as Jamie lowered her into the crate. Her screams were muffled by the gag and almost completely drowned out as Jamie hauled the lid into place and Alex was plunged into darkness. She heard a padlock being snapped into place and then footsteps leaving.

She kicked the side of the crate over and over and screamed as loud as she could until exhaustion finally kicked in. She tried to survey her surroundings and noted that there were a few holes drilled into the lid of the crate; at least she wouldn't suffocate. It was completely dark though and after an hour of silence she was at it again, screaming, kicking, and struggling, all to no avail. The last thing she remembered before sleep kicked in was Walker's face filling her mind, telling her everything would be okay.

* * *

Alex woke with a start, sitting up on the thin mattress covered in sweat. She'd been having the same nightmare almost nightly since she'd been in this place. She stood and walked to the small sink in the corner of her room, more of a cell really. It was small and held only the mattress she had just vacated, the sink she was standing at now, a toilet and a chest of drawers on top of which a lamp was bolted into place. The bolts had arrived after she used the lamp to take a swing at Jamie, who didn't respond kindly to being hit in the head with a blunt instrument. The chest of drawers was hardly necessary, but it had been stocked before she'd arrived. It held dresses similar to the one she was wearing, cotton shifts in various colors. There were a few pairs of underwear but no bras. That was all.

She splashed cold water on her face. There was no mirror, so she couldn't look at herself. She hadn't seen her own reflection in eight months. Eight months she'd been here. Eight months she'd been forced to wait hand and foot on Jamie Carr and whoever else happened to be in the house. She gingerly touched her cheek, bruised from where he'd hit her earlier this evening. Eight months she'd had to put up with the abuse, both physical and emotional.

But now, something had reawakened in the back of her mind, a feeling she hadn't had in eight months. Hope. Trivette was here now and that was a good sign. She hadn't recognized him when she first walked into the room; she'd pegged the strange man as sleazy, dressed all in black with the gold hoop in his ear. But when he spoke, she knew that voice and did a double take, recognizing him. She figured he was undercover and she forced herself to act as she always did around Carr: timid and submissive.

The look on his face when he recognized her had been one of shock and joy, but those emotions had quickly disappeared as he forced himself back into character, Damian Keller as Jamie called him.

She'd given up hope a few months ago after seeing a news story as she served Jamie his dinner; it was the first time she'd been allowed to watch the television since she'd been here. The story was about a man who'd been attacked in his home who had woken up from a coma after a long period of time. They showed his picture; it was Walker. She was elated, Walker was alive and surely he would come for her. But as the news anchors continued she realized that wasn't going to happen. They lamented the fact that Ranger Walker's wife had perished in the fire; a funeral had been held months earlier. It was then that Alex realized that no one was looking for her, no one was going to come barging in here, guns blazing to take her home. She was on her own.

She reflected on all of this whilst standing at the sink. She heard footsteps outside her door and scurried back to her mattress, feigning sleep. The door creaked open and Alex opened her eyes just a little. A man stepped inside and looked around. He was holding a gun and Alex felt her heart race. This was either very good or very bad. It was almost pitch black in the room but Alex was able to make out the silhouette of the man as he slowly walked the perimeter, stopping at the foot of her bed.

"Alex?" It was Trivette.

She sat bolt upright and flicked the switch of the lamp on the dresser. Trivette was in the same clothes as earlier, and upon seeing that it really was her he lowered his gun. Part of Alex believed that this was a dream; surely it was too good to be true. But she felt the weight of the bed shift as Trivette sat down; she felt the touch of his hand as he grabbed one of hers. She needed to know if this was real.

"Jimmy?" she whispered, reaching out to touch his face. She felt warmth there and became slightly more convinced that this was indeed reality.

"Yeah, it's me." Trivette said cautiously, not wanting to upset her. He had no idea what she'd been through since she'd been here. Carr said he hadn't raped her, but Trivette wasn't about to take his word for it. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable; he needed her to trust him if he was going to have a chance at getting them both out of here safely.

He needn't have worried; right before his eyes Alex's eyes welled up with tears and she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest, both to muffle the sound of her tears and to feel his heartbeat, ensuring her that this was real.

Trivette rested his chin on top of her head and held her in his arms. He stared at the wall over her head and felt his own tears streaming into her hair. It really was her.


	13. Chapter 13

Hey everyone! Thanks for being patient; I'm back home now so here's the next update. Let me know what you think!

* * *

Alex and Trivette sat in silence for only a few minutes but it seemed like an eternity. Alex tried really hard to reign her emotions in, but the tears kept flowing. Eight months worth of shattered hopes and intense fear that each day would end with her death. Eight months of knowing that no one was coming to save her, of knowing that she was on her own. But not anymore. Finally, she managed to break away from the safety of Trivette's arms.

"Sorry." She whispered. "I guess I just don't believe this is real yet."

Trivette smoothed her hair back from her face. "I can't either. I can't believe you're here. I thought, we all thought, that you died in the fire. What happened?"

"Some of it I don't know. I woke up tied up in the trunk of a car." She told him about everything else from that point forward; the warehouse, the fight between Carr and his brother, the crate. "He came back every day to bring me food and water. I lost track of time eventually, but one day he came back and loaded me into a van and brought me here. I've pretty much been a servant ever since."

"Did he touch you?"

Alex shook her head, but edited her answer after Trivette stared her down. "He hits me sometimes, if he gets mad. Nothing too bad."

Trivette continued to stare pointedly at the blossoming bruise on her cheek but let her comment slide. He needed to know the answer to his next question. He knew what Carr had said, but Trivette wasn't ready to take his word for it.

"Did he rape you?"

Alex shook her head; when she spoke, her voice was low but firm. "No. Jimmy, I swear he didn't. I thought he was going to once, he came in here and took my dress off but he didn't go any further than that. He told me that if I disobeyed him he wouldn't be so nice. His words, not mine."

Trivette let out a small sigh of relief.

"How touching." A voice sneered from the doorway. Trivette's head jerked up and he saw Carr standing there with Dale right behind him; his heart sank. "Reunited at last, Assistant District Attorney Cahill-Walker and Texas Ranger James Trivette, it almost brings a tear to my eye." Carr laughed mirthlessly.

Trivette felt Alex's hand shaking in his. He stood and pushed her behind him, shielding her from view. He picked his words carefully, deciding that the time for pretending was long gone.

"You know who I am." Trivette stated, his voice not betraying the anxiety he felt.

"It wasn't hard. Dale lifted your prints from your crash pad. I must admit, you played your part well. You can build a fake criminal history but you can't change your fingerprints. Funny how that works, isn't it?"

"I'm not laughing." Trivette said.

"You're right. This really isn't funny at all." Carr said. "I have little tolerance for narcs."

"Right. So, let's not spend any more time together. Alex and I will just be going now."

Carr laughed. "Funny man, huh? You won't be laughing long. Let's go."

Trivette didn't move and Carr rolled his eyes. "So typical. The macho Texas Ranger that thinks he can fix everything by himself." He grabbed the gun out of the waistband of his pants and raised it. "Don't you know what happened to the last undercover cop who came in here? He didn't last either. Though he did last longer than you. I wasn't about to let that happen again. But before I kill you I need to ask you some questions. So again, let's go."

Trivette dead-eyed Carr and took a step towards him. Alex squeezed his hand and pulled back. Trivette gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and slid his hand out of hers. In a flash Dale was beside him holding his right arm in a vise-like grip. He propelled Trivette forward and once he was close enough, Carr sucker punched him, landing a solid fist in Trivette's gut. Trivette doubled over in pain but righted himself quickly. As he was marched out of Alex' tiny cell he chanced a glance back at her; she was still standing where he'd left her, back against the wall, one hand still stretched out toward him the other clenched by her side. Dale and Carr led him down hallway after hallway, finally dead ending in a bare room only slightly larger than the one they had just vacated. With a final shove from Dale, Trivette stumbled into the room with Carr right behind him. Dale slammed the door shut and took up a position in the far corner, leaving Carr and Trivette staring right at each other.

"This doesn't have to be drawn out, Ranger. This can be mostly painless for you if you cooperate." Trivette said nothing. "Fine. If that's how you want this to play out. First question. Who knows you're here?"

Trivette stayed quiet. Carr aimed another punch at his face this time, but Trivette ducked and came back with a punch of his own and felt the satisfying crunch of his knuckles against Carr's jaw. Trivette whirled around and executed a roundhouse kick that sent Dale spinning. By that point Carr had recovered enough to have grabbed his gun; he fired a shot but it missed Trivette by a few feet. Trivette lunged for Carr's wrist and the gun discharged and missed again. Trivette had nearly wrestled it from Carr's grasp when something hard hit him from behind. He stumbled, fell, and spent the next few minutes trying to shield himself from the kicks that seemed to come at him from all directions. Eventually, he grabbed hold of one of the feet as it collided with his gut and pulled; Dale went crashing to the floor. Trivette scrambled to his feet and head-butted Carr, barreling him into one of the walls. Trivette got his hands around Carr's throat and squeezed; all of the anger, sadness, and loss he'd felt in the past eight months were being channeled through his hands. He held on even as Dale's strong arm wrapped around his own throat squeezing tight and cutting off his air supply. Trivette's vision was going cloudy and he had no choice but to free up his hands to get Dale off of him. He let go of Carr's throat and clawed at Dale's arm. It didn't matter; Dale just held on tighter. Within a minute, Trivette was out cold.

Dale threw Trivette's body to the floor and looked over at Jamie Carr who was still massaging his own neck.

"Take him back to the girl." Carr instructed. "Leave him there until he wakes up."

"What about the cops?" Dale asked. "What if they come storming in here?"

"We can take care of them." Carr assuaged. "Besides, they're not going to barge in here when we have one of their own, are they?"

Dale appeared mollified; he lifted Trivette up over his shoulder and carried him through the house.

* * *

After Carr and Dale took Trivette, Alex sprang into action. She looked down at her clenched fist and raised it until it was in front of her face. She was holding Trivette's phone. When he'd stepped in front of her she'd felt the outline of the phone through his back pocket and had managed to dig it out without arousing suspicion. She flipped it open and the room was almost entirely illuminated with the blue light emanating from it. She searched for Walker's name under Trivette's list of contacts but it wasn't there. She dialed his number anyway but received a recorded message saying the number had been disconnected. Her heart sinking, she found Gage's number under Trivette's list of contacts and dialed the number quickly, pressing the phone to her ear and willing her heart to stop pounding so loud. She kept one ear cocked toward the door, listening for the sounds of anyone approaching.

Gage picked up after only two rings. "Trivette?" His voice was panicked. "Are you okay?"

Alex tried to speak but found her throat was constricted. It was so good to hear his voice. She could picture him and Sydney, worry lines creasing their faces as they tried to figure out what went wrong.

"Trivette? Answer me." Gage demanded, and Alex heard Sydney's voice in the background telling him to put it on speaker. Gage did so and Sydney's voice filled the phone.

"Trivette? What's going on? Talk to us."

Choking back tears of both fright and happiness, Alex finally managed to speak. "Gage? Sydney?"

There was silence on the other end of the line. Then, "Who is this?" Gage said tersely.

"It's Alex." This statement was met with further silence. "Hello?"

"Alex?" Sydney asked softly, sounding both incredulous and hopeful.

Alex pounced. "Listen, I don't have much time. Jamie Carr knows who Trivette is, he's got him somewhere in the house. I don't know where. He's going to kill him."

"Listen," Gage interrupted, "I don't know who you are or what your game is. Put Trivette on the phone."

"Gage, it's me, it's Alex! Jimmy's not here. I don't know where he is. Listen, I'll explain everything later; you just have to get in here." She heard footsteps approaching. "I have to go. Hurry!" She snapped the phone shut and slid it under her mattress as the door to her tiny room opened. Dale stepped into the room and dumped Trivette's motionless body unceremoniously onto the floor. He tossed a sneer in Alex's general direction and left the room, slamming and locking the door behind him.

Alex crawled over to where Trivette was lying on his stomach and gently turned him over. He was breathing; the gentle rise and fall of his chest assured her of that. She pressed her ear to the door; all was silent. She grabbed the phone from under the bed and quickly snapped a picture of Trivette. Recalling Gage's skepticism, she snapped one of herself, knowing that she probably looked like crap. She sent the pictures to Gage's phone with a one word message. "HURRY!"

* * *

Gage held the phone out so Sydney could see the photos.

"What do you think?" she asked him.

"The time stamps match up. The photos were taken less than a minute ago." Gage said.

"Gage, Alex is supposed to be dead. We saw her body after brought it out of the ranch. We were at her funeral." Sydney reasoned, pushing away the hope that was bubbling up inside her.

"Everything matched up. The body was the right size, blonde, and the body was in the house. It had to be Alex." Gage agreed.

Sydney thought about that for a minute. "Gage, are we trying to convince ourselves that our best friend is actually dead?" she asked softly.

"Syd, I don't know what to think. This could be Carr's way of luring us in there. It could be a trap." He paused. "That woman sounded exactly like Alex though. And it's definitely her in that picture."

"I know. But what are the odds that she would be right here, right now?"

"Minimal. But I don't think we can rule anything out."

Sydney chuckled.

"What?" Gage asked.

"I was just thinking about something that Walker always said. He-"

"doesn't believe in coincidences." Gage finished for her with a smile. "Okay then. Let's work under the assumption that whether Alex is here, somehow, and that Trivette is in trouble. He's unconscious in that picture. I have an idea." He punched a few buttons in his phone. "Dan." He said after a few seconds. "Gage here. I just sent you a picture…yeah that's what we think too. I want you to run facial recognition. I know it looks exactly like Alex…I know, that's why I'm calling. Run it. Run it now. Compare the picture I sent you to her file. How long will it take? Okay, I'll wait." Gage drummed his fingers impatiently on the dashboard as Dan mumbled on the other end.

Sydney sat in the seat beside him, completely lost in her own thoughts. Could Alex really be alive? Every inch of her wanted it to be true; she wanted Alex to be alive. The rational part of her brain was in overdrive trying to figure out how this possibly could have happened. The hopeful part of her recalled the fact that the body had never been medically identified as Alex. The other part of her mentally re-examined the overwhelming amount of evidence that indicated that Alex was the one that died. The body was the right size, had the right hair color, and was in the right place. Who else would have been in that house? Suddenly, she sat up straight, rummaging around in the back seat. She was yanked back to reality when Gage spoke.

"Alright, thanks Dan." He snapped his phone shut. Sydney turned to him and his face broke out in a smile. "It's official. The woman in the picture matches the picture of Alex in her file. Alex is in there, Syd. Alex is alive."

Sydney smiled back at him, her eyes twinkling. "Gage, I think I know what happened."


	14. Chapter 14

Hope everyone is pleased with how this is unfolding; I am. Let me know what you think! P.S., my birthday is on Sunday, and reviews make great presents : )

* * *

"You know what happened?" Gage asked incredulously.

Sydney nodded fervently.

"Well, what?" Gage prompted impatiently.

"I'll tell you while we drive."

"Where are we driving to?"

Sydney gave him a stare that made it clear she thought he was an idiot. "Gage, Alex is alive and Trivette's in trouble. We have to tell Walker."

"Uh, Syd? Hate to break it to you, but Walker left. He's not coming back, I thought we understood that."

"Gage!" she punched his arm. "If you thought I was dead and it turned out I wasn't, wouldn't you want someone to tell you?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then we have to tell Walker! Now drive! I'll call for some units to stake out the house in case something happens. The heat radar is on the way already, right?"

"Yeah, it's coming. Syd, where do you suppose I should drive to? No one knows where Walker is." His tone was patronizing, and Sydney resented it, though she knew he was right.

"Gage, we have to find him." She insisted.

"I know." He ran his hands through his hair. "Okay. Think like Walker. Where would you go?"

"Somewhere I could cope with Alex's death. Somewhere where I could just focus entirely on something else." Sydney answered.

"Do you think he left Texas?"

She shook her head. "I think he'd stay close. He'd want to be near Alex's grave."

Gage nodded his agreement. "Walker always said the spirits of the dead never really leave us. He'd want to stay close." Gage's voice trailed off.

As thought they'd been shocked, both suddenly sat up straight in their seats and looked straight at each other.

"It's so obvious!" Sydney groaned.

"Why didn't we figure this out before?" Gage mused, starting the car and shifting into gear while Sydney radioed for backup and explained the situation to the stunned dispatcher who promised to send units immediately.

They were headed to the Cherokee reservation Walker had grown up on. For as long as they'd known him he used to go there to meditate and reflect when something was bothering him. It made sense that he would have migrated there after Alex's "death", or at the very least, someone there would know how to get in touch with him. It was an obvious choice, and both Rangers had the same thought. Had they really been unable to figure it out? Or had their subconscious blocked the answer because they knew Walker needed to be alone?

Gage flew down the highway, glancing over at Sydney every few minutes; she was engrossed in reading a file.

"Shorty, are you going to share your theory anytime soon?" Gage asked.

Sydney pulled a picture out of the folder; it was of a thin blonde woman, but it wasn't Alex. "Gage, this is Sharon Parker, the woman that went missing the day of the fire."

"Syd, you're not still hung up on that case, are you? We were all preoccupied, I'm sure you did the best you could." Gage soothed.

"Francis, shut up for one second in your life." Sydney said, exasperated. "I'm not hung up on this case. I think that it was Sharon Parker's body that was pulled out of the ranch."

This revelation hung in the air for a minute as Gage thought about it. "Syd, are you saying that the home invaders had no intention of killing Alex? That they wanted to take her all along?"

Sydney shook her head. "No. I think they were all set to kill both Walker and Alex. Knowing Walker, he put up a fight and they probably thought they had no choice. But, for some reason, whatever reason, they took Alex and set the place on fire with Walker inside."

"Nothing new there." Gage said, but turned his face back to the road when he saw Sydney's playful glare. She hated being interrupted. "Sorry. Go on." He gave her a grin and she returned it.

"Sharon Parker lived three miles from Walker's ranch. According to her brother, she went jogging every night after dinner. He didn't know her normal route, but let's just assume that it took her within a mile of Walker's ranch."

"With you so far." Gage said.

"So Sharon Parker is out for her jog. Let's say she sees the smoke coming from the house and runs closer to investigate. She sees the ranch on fire and runs in to see if there's anyone there. She makes it in and drags Walker out, but she goes back in to see if there's anyone else. The smoke is too much for her and she loses consciousness, and her body burns with the building."

Gage chose his words carefully. "Syd, it's a good theory. I know you like to think the best of people, but why on earth would Sharon Parker run inside a burning building instead of calling 911?"

Sydney smiled. She had all the answers. "Gage, Sharon Parker was an employee of the Dallas Fire Department. She ran into burning buildings for a living. So when she saw the fire, she thought she could handle it. She ran inside and found Walker; she'd be more than capable of dragging him out. And Gage, listen to this. Sharon Parker was approximately the same height as Alex. She weighed more, but the body they pulled out was just bone. They couldn't really ballpark her weight. The blonde hair we found wasn't Alex's, it was Sharon Parker's!" Sydney concluded.

Gage nodded, mulling this new development over in his head. It sounded plausible.

"Okay. Now let's prove it. I'll call the coroner and have him request an exhumation. As soon as we find Walker, we can get his consent and try to ID the body." Gage whipped out his phone and dialed. After a short conversation he hung up and looked at Sydney. "Done deal. He'll start the paperwork. He didn't seem happy about it though. He was really grumpy. Come to think of it, so was Dan when I called him."

Sydney laughed. "Gage, it's four in the morning. You woke them both up, I would be grumpy too."

Gage cracked up. "That's an understatement. I have seen you in the morning, and it's not pretty."

Sydney laughed harder; it felt so good to laugh. And it felt good to laugh with Gage; that hadn't happened in a long time.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as Gage drove, each lost in thought. Sydney was still reeling from the realization that her best female friend was alive. And that they were hopefully about to see Walker. He was like a father to her, and she missed him terribly.

Gage was thinking along the same lines, but he was more focused on hoping that Trivette was okay. His thoughts were peppered with the wish that it wasn't so early in the morning; no one served bacon cheeseburgers at five thirty in the morning.

An hour later they drove onto the reservation but now that they were there, they weren't sure where to look. They decided to start with the police station.

Gage and Sydney were greeted by a large man in a police uniform. "Can I help you?"

Gage cleared his throat. "We're looking for Cordell Walker. Is he around?"

"What business do you have with Washoe?"

"We need to speak to him. It's urgent." Sydney answered.

"He doesn't want to be bothered." The officer replied, dismissing them both as he turned around.

"Sir, it's about his wife." Gage threw out, causing the officer to stop and turn back around, eyeing them with a curious stare.

"Washoe's wife died some time ago."

"No she didn't. She's alive." Sydney blurted.

"Who are you?" the officer asked.

"Rangers Gage and Cooke, we worked with Walker when he was with the Texas Rangers. Please, we really need to speak to him." Gage insisted.

"He's unreachable at the moment. On a retreat." The officer finally said. "I'll pass your message along when he returns."

Neither Ranger bought this. "Sir, we have a picture of Alex, Walker's wife, which was taken only a few hours ago. She's being held at the home of Jamie Carr, a drug dealer. And Trivette, Walker's former partner, is in there too. They're in trouble, and we really need to get in touch with him." Sydney spoke at lightning speed.

"He's unreachable." The officer insisted again.

Gage had had enough. He grabbed the officer's shirt and propelled him against the wall so hard that Walker couldn't have done it any better. "Listen here. I know Walker's hurting; I know he wants to be alone. I know you're trying to help him. But when his wife dies for real alongside his partner, it's going to be on your head. So you damn well better make sure he gets our message. Quickly." He released the officer but shot a steady glare at him, even as Sydney pulled him back.

"Thank you for your time. Please make sure Walker gets the message. And tell him…tell him that we would really appreciate his help." Sydney concluded, pulling Gage out the door. She steered him to the passenger side of the car and finally let go of his arm.

"Gage, calm down." She soothed.

"Don't tell me to calm down. They're playing games and Alex and Trivette are in trouble!" he yelled, causing early morning pedestrians to stare.

"I know, Gage, I know." She placed one hand on his cheek.

"They're playing games. Walker needs to come back, he just, Alex and Trivette need him to come back." He paused. "I need him to come back." His voice was soft and Sydney's eyes welled up. Gage looked so defeated in that moment; this had all taken such a toll on him. And she mentally kicked herself for not talking to him for months and months. They needed each other then and they needed each other now. They would always need each other.

She put her other hand on the back of his head and pulled his head down toward her. She wrapped his arms around his neck and gave him a hug; his head came to rest on her shoulder. They were holding each other tight, each taking comfort in the other's presence.

"He'll come back, Gage." Sydney said fervently, trying to convince herself as well. "But whether he comes back or not, we'll handle it together. But right now, we have to get back to Trivette and Alex. Okay?"

Gage nodded against her shoulder and released her, quickly swiping a hand across his face. "Let's go."

* * *

Walker watched as Gage and Sydney broke their hug and drove away. He heard someone enter the room, but he knew it was Billy, a kid he'd grown up with on the reservation who'd moved on to become a cop.

Billy spoke first. "You were listening?"

Walker nodded once. "Yeah, I was listening."

"Your boy sure is strong." Billy stated, rubbing his shoulder.

Walker allowed himself a small smile.

"You going back?" Billy asked.

"Don't know." Walker said.

Billy, taking the hint, backed out of the room and shut the door.

Walker sighed and leaned against the wall. Could Alex really be alive? He wanted to believe it so badly; he physically ached for it to be true. But he'd seen her get shot. She'd been killed right in front of him. He hadn't saved her. But now, could she possibly be alive? Sydney had said that they had a picture of her. But pictures could be faked, they knew that. Still, a picture meant a chance. Walker shook his head as though to empty it of all these thoughts.

After Alex had died and he'd woken up in the hospital, he knew he had to leave. He was burdened by guilt, he knew that. It was his fault Alex was dead. And he wouldn't have blamed any of the others to not trust him in the field; he didn't even trust himself. But he also had the thought that if he left, maybe they could move on. If he was around them every day, they would always look at him and think of Alex. If he wasn't there, maybe they could eventually forget her.

He banged his fist against the wall. That was bullshit. He knew deep down that they would never forget her. They would never forget him either, apparently. They'd just shown up here, hadn't they? He'd heard their voices, seen them comfort each other outside. They certainly thought they needed him. But did they? Did they really need the man that had gotten his wife killed?

But. Such a short word caused such a great deal of trouble. Whether Alex was alive or not, they'd also said that Trivette was in trouble. Trivette was his best friend; could he really stand by while he was in danger? Could he handle two lives on his conscience?

Besides, he missed them all. He sometimes dreamt about the office, just sitting at his desk, teasing Trivette about his newest gadget. Watching Gage and Sydney chat while they worked, hearing them laugh together.

Should he go back? Could he go back? Now was the time to decide.

* * *

Two and a half hours later, Gage and Sydney were back at Carr's mansion. They got an update from one of the officers: nothing had happened, no one left, no one entered. They were using the heat radar but they weren't getting much from it. Some of the officers had walked the perimeter and noted several armed guards patrolling. In the young officer's opinion, it was best to keep their distance for now.

Sydney and Gage thanked him and wandered closer to the barricades. "We need to get them out of there." Gage said.

"We need to go in." Sydney agreed and they began planning their strategy.

Twenty minutes and several disagreements later, their concentration was broken by a flurry of activity at one of the barricades down the street.

"What the hell?" Gage muttered, annoyed. He and Sydney were in charge, so they started down the street to where the action was centered. They didn't make it far, however, before the crowd parted neatly in half, clearing the way for the approaching blue pick-up truck. It sped down the street, screeching to a stop a few feet away from Gage and Sydney. The driver's side door opened and the first thing to exit the car was a weathered cowboy boot. The driver stepped out of the truck and slammed the door shut.

Walker had arrived.


	15. Chapter 15

So, I started writing this chapter with every intention of having it be the conclusion of the story, but as you'll see, things didn't go as I'd planned. Not that I'm complaining of course, because I have immensely enjoyed writing this. Let me know what you think!

* * *

Walker made his way over to where Gage and Sydney were standing. There was an awkward pause between the three that lasted only a moment before Sydney flung her arms around him, the man that was so much like a father to her. Looking over his shoulder she could see the stares of the uniformed cops as they gossiped and openly pointed and for this one time, she didn't care. The jokes she would endure about being an overly emotional woman would die down eventually after a few rounds of sparring on the mats. For right now, she was just overjoyed that Walker had come and she let it show.

Walker was hugging her back just as hard, but after a minute, he couldn't help himself. "Sydney, I can't breathe."

She released him immediately, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry."

Walker smiled and turned to Gage who appeared to be thinking so hard he might combust. Walker's smile faltered as he mistook the expression on Gage's face for anger.

"Gage-" he started, but he was cut off as Gage stuck out his hand. Walker shook it and Gage pulled him into the kind of macho bear hug men tend to prefer.

Once they felt everyone had been properly greeted, it was time to talk business. Walker started.

"I'm not here officially. I haven't been given my spot on the Rangers back yet. I haven't asked for it yet."

"You are going to though, aren't you? You're going to talk to the Commissioner?" Sydney asked.

"I don't know."

That wasn't the answer anyone was expecting, and it showed. Walker plowed on.

"Listen. After everything that happened, when I thought Alex was dead, I didn't think I could do my job anymore. My wife had died on my watch, or so I thought. How could I expect you to trust me with your lives if I couldn't even protect my own wife?"

Gage couldn't resist. "Walker, no one has ever had a problem trusting you with their lives. And they never will."

"I appreciate you saying that, whether or not it's true. Either way, I wasn't ready to come back to this job. I still don't know if I am or not. What I do know is that, according to you, Alex and Trivette are trapped inside. I completely believe that the two of you can get them out on your own. But I'd like to stay; I want to see my wife." Walker's voice trailed off. He cleared his throat. "Sorry. Anyway, I want to stick around. If you can use me, let me know what you need. If you want to send me back behind the yellow tape, I'll go."

This was the most anxious Gage or Sydney had ever seen Walker. He was normally so calm, so restrained regardless of the situation. Nevertheless, what Gage had said was true: they trusted him with their lives.

"Of course we want your help." Sydney confirmed. "You haven't missed much. We're trying to figure out the best way to get in there."

Before anyone could say anything else, Gage's phone rang. He answered, looked confused for a moment, and then quickly put it on speaker.

* * *

Alex hadn't left Trivette's side since Dale had unceremoniously dumped him in her room two hours earlier. Now, however, he was starting to come around. His eyes fluttered open and he groaned as he tried to sit up. She pushed him back down.

"Don't try to sit up." Alex instructed. Trivette obliged pressed one had to the back of his head. It came away red and sticky. "I tried to stop the bleeding," Alex said, indicating the bloodstained sheets behind her. "But it didn't work too well. Are you alright?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Trivette successfully sat up this time as he spoke. "I have a hard head."

Alex laughed and Trivette grinned, secretly trying to see only one of everything instead of two. He had a concussion at the best. "Has he been back?" he asked.

"Carr? No. No one has come by. Which is a nice change." She added wryly.

"What do you mean?"

Alex shook her head. "Sorry, nothing. It's just that there's always something they want me to do, something to cook, clean, take care of. It never stops."

"Hey, come on now. It's stopped now. I'm going to get you out of here, I swear."

Alex nodded and rested her head on Trivette's shoulder. "I'm so sorry." Alex whispered, tearing up.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Trivette demanded. He took Alex's chin in his hand and tilted her face up so he could look her in the eyes.

"I gave up on you." She admitted. "I didn't think you would ever come for me. I hoped for awhile you know, but then I saw on the news about how they found a second body at the ranch and they thought it was me and I realized that you guys had no reason to keep looking." Alex explained.

"We're the ones who should be sorry." Trivette rebutted. "We never had the body from the ranch properly identified. They'd already pulled Walker out and when they brought out the body, it was completely charred beyond recognition. There were a few stray pieces of blonde hair stuck to the scalp, the skeleton was about your height; we all just assumed it was you. That's our fault, not yours." Trivette said, feeling the waves of guilt crash down on his shoulders. Why in God's name hadn't they identified that body?

"You had no reason to think otherwise." Alex said. "I don't blame anyone, and neither should you." She instructed.

"Yeah, well, somehow I don't think Walker's going to be as forgiving." Trivette deadpanned.

Alex didn't laugh. "How is Walker?" she asked.

"I don't know." Trivette answered honestly.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Alex demanded.

"Alex, Walker was in a coma for almost two months. When he woke up, he couldn't deal with what happened."

"What did he do? Jimmy, what did Walker do?" Alex's voice wavered.

"He left."

"He left? What do you mean he left?"

"The day he woke up, he walked out of the hospital without telling anyone where he was going. Gage, Sydney, and I had stopped by earlier to wish him well, and tell him what had happened, but he left after we did."

"Well, where did he go?"

"The reservation." Trivette answered simply, surprising himself. He hadn't even realized it until he'd spoken the words. But after he said them, he somehow knew they were true. It was funny that he hadn't figured it out in the past seven months, but right now he had no problem coming up with that answer.

"How do you know?" Alex asked.

"I just do." Was the reply, and it was good enough. Walker had gone out to the reservation a number of times since they'd both known him. It was logical.

"So you haven't spoken to him at all since he left?"

Trivette shook his head. "No. I figured he would come back if and when he was ready. He'll definitely come back once he finds out you're alive."

Alex gasped. "That reminds me!" she pulled his phone out from its hiding place, under her mattress.

"I was hoping you'd grab that." Trivette said. "We need to call Gage and Sydney."

"I already did." Alex stated. "I didn't they thought it was me though, so I sent them a picture too."

"And?"

"And, I don't know. I don't think they'll call it, do you? They don't want us in danger."

"You're right. But at least they know we need help." He paused and listened for a few seconds. "Okay, it's clear outside. We need to call them; I'll give them the layout as best as I can." Trivette decided.

He punched in Gage's number and put the phone on speaker. Gage answered on the second ring.

"This is Gage."

"Gage, its Trivette and Alex."

"Trivette, are you okay?" Gage demanded.

"I'm fine." Trivette verbally shooed the question away.

"He's lying." Alex piped up.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Trivette, is that really her? Is that really Alex?" Sydney asked.

"Of course it's really me." Alex said. "I sent you that picture, didn't I?" her tone was borderline indignant.

Outside, Walker raised his eyebrows, both inquiring about the picture and indicating that he thought the woman on the phone was indeed his wife.

"Trivette?" Gage prompted.

"It is really her." Trivette acknowledged.

"Trivette, are you in trouble right now? Is Carr telling you what to say?"

"Oh for heaven's sake, Sydney." Alex was exasperated. She'd expected disbelief, but this was bordering on ridiculous. "You're middle name is Rochelle, you're an only child, you're favorite food is stuffed peppers, you hate corn, sprouts, and vanilla cake. You're partner is Francis Robert Gage, his sister is Julie and she's a reporter. He's in the habit of putting four burger patties on a bun at once." Alex took a deep breath. "I'm married to Cordell Walker, who used to be a Marine but for the past years of his life has been a Texas Ranger. We went to Paris for our honeymoon, although our plane nearly went down on the way." She paused. "Ask me anything and I'll answer." She concluded.

Walker opened his mouth to tell her how much he loved her; how much he couldn't wait to get her out of there and take her home but before he could say anything Trivette cursed and they heard muffled sounds on the other end of the line. Knowing better than to say anything, they just listened.

There was the sound of a door opening and heavy footsteps. Jamie Carr and Dale strode into Alex's tiny cell. Both glared down at their captives who were suspiciously huddling by the bed.

"What are you doing?" Carr demanded.

"Nothing." Trivette answered, turning his body so he was once again between Alex and the others.

"Doesn't look like nothing." Dale sneered, but quieted at a stern look from Carr.

"Listen Ranger, I've come to a decision. Unless you're willing to tell me anything useful about the undercover operation that led you here, you're of no use to me. So I'm going to just go ahead and kill you now. How does that sound? Any information that could save your life?"

Gage and Sydney exchanged panicked glances. There was no way they could get inside in time.

"I'm not telling you anything." Trivette responded, much more strongly than he felt.

"Is that your final answer?" Carr asked with a sneer that showed that he intended to channel the game show question. He moved closer to Trivette and Alex with each word; they were pressed up against the wall; Alex had the phone behind her back. "Because I would suggest that for her sake," he inclined his head toward Alex, "you come up with something better than that." He landed a solid fist to Trivette's gut causing him to double over; he couldn't hold in the grunt of pain that escaped him.

Outside, Gage ran his hands through his hair for the umpteenth time that morning. They needed to do something!

Trivette, breathing heavily, managed to right himself and stand straight once again. "I do have one question." Trivette said, praying that Carr would take the bait.

"Oh?" Carr raised one eyebrow, allowing Trivette to continue.

"Everything you said before about bringing Alex here, was that true?"

Carr laughed. "You have five minutes to live, and you want to talk about the past? Really?" He laughed again. "Well, there's no harm in telling you I suppose. Some of it was true. Myself, my brother Michael, and Dale did work for Antoine Purcell after I got out of prison. Purcell did have us robbing those places, like I said before. But this one," he pointed at Alex, "this one wasn't exactly random. It fit in perfectly though, secluded house, only one couple living in it, it was great. I knew though, that it belonged to the legendary Texas Ranger Cordell Walker." He said Walker's name with such contempt that Trivette wanted to punch him. "I hadn't worked for Purcell long, but I heard Walker's name a lot. He was a complication, a menace. Purcell always said that if he could only get Walker out of the way, things would be much easier to run. So I got this crazy idea in my head, why couldn't I have everything Purcell did? Why couldn't I be the great, fearsome drug lord?" Carr was getting caught up in his own perceived majesty.

"Because you're an idiot." Alex muttered so that only Trivette could hear, though her voice carried through the phone and drew a few chuckles from outside. Trivette suppressed his smile as Carr continued.

"It wasn't hard to get Michael out of the way. I hated my brother, I always had. He was always better, stronger, and smarter, I was the one that got caught and sent to prison while Michael always got away. But he didn't get away this time. I picked the Walker ranch as our next target. Once Walker was out of the way, the road would be almost clear for me to take over. The only one that would be left was Purcell. But Michael screwed up! He was supposed to cap goddamn Walker and the bastard lived! How, I have no idea, but he lived. I was furious and Michael took Walker's place in Hell that night. I was going to kill the girl too, but I took her. She's gorgeous and I knew she'd look good anywhere. So I told Michael I was going to give her to Purcell, but I didn't. I kept her all for myself. That night, I went back to Purcell and told him that Michael had flaked, that he'd had a change of heart. Dale backed me up; Dale's been with me all the way, ever since we were kids. So I got in tight with Purcell. I was his right hand now. And when I got close enough, when I knew enough to run things on my own, Purcell was no more. And I took things over, smooth as can be; no one really knew the difference. Walker had lived, but he was out of my way because he LEFT! He left when he finally woke up and I didn't have to deal with him anymore. So now I had it all. And now Ranger, you have about ten seconds to live. Tell me, did I answer your question? Are you satisfied taking the truth to your grave?" Carr leveled his gun at Trivette's head, pressing the barrel into his forehead.

Alex pleaded. "Please, you don't have to do this."

"Shut up!" Carr demanded. "Tell me Ranger, are you ready to die?"

Trivette's eyes bore holes into Carr's face. He prepared himself mentally and physically and took hold of Alex's hand.

"Good bye Ranger." Carr pulled the trigger and the shot exploded in the room, the sound seemingly magnified because the room was so tiny.

At the last possible second Trivette pulled Alex down to the floor, both of them falling in a heap so that Carr's bullet missed! It lodged in the wall behind where they had been standing seconds before.

Alex hadn't been ready for the fall; she hadn't had a good grip on the phone. It flew out of her hand and skidded across the floor, knocking the battery pack loose and immediately ending the call to Gage's phone.

Carr bent down and picked it up seeming more amused than angry at the fact that he hadn't managed to kill a man standing less than a foot away from him.

"What's this? Oh, this will not do." Carr said, and he aimed his gun again. "Who have you been talking to?" He reloaded the battery pack and let the phone power up. He scrolled through the call history. "Gage? Would this be another Ranger maybe?" He dialed Gage's number.

"Trivette? Alex? What happened?" came Gage's panicked voice.

"So sorry." Carr answered in a dangerously calm voice. "Trivette and Alex can't talk right now." And he pulled the trigger twice just for good measure.


	16. Chapter 16

So, this chapter is quite long and I'm sorry to say that it brings the story to a close. I hope you all have enjoyed reading this fic as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Please let me know your final thoughts!

* * *

Trivette gasped as he felt the bullets rip through his body, one in the leg and one in the shoulder. He heard Alex scream from her spot on the floor beside him and for a second, he thought he might black out from the pain. He worked on staying awake and did so successfully. He heard Carr speaking into the phone, presumably still to Gage.

"I swear to God that if I see one cop, Ranger, or anyone else approaching my house, I will kill her too." He snapped the phone shut and huddled in conversation with Dale.

Trivette was vaguely aware of Alex pressing sheets to his thigh and his right shoulder. She was wrapping them as tightly as she could.

"Jimmy, stay awake. Jimmy, please, you're okay. You're going to be okay." She was saying over and over again. He nodded; the shock of being shot was wearing off and he was able to assess his wounds. The one in the shoulder was a through and through, it didn't hit anything important. The one in the leg was more worrisome, but Trivette was pretty sure it hadn't hit his femoral artery; there wasn't enough blood. He needed medical attention, but he could make it for a few hours as long as the bleeding slowed down.

"I'm okay. I'm alright." He told Alex, not bothering to try and sit up. He knew it was better to lie still.

Suddenly, Alex flew back from him and nearly crashed into the wall. Carr's face was looming over him now.

"What is it with you damn Rangers? You just won't die." He said and kicked Trivette in the ribs. Trivette grunted and used his good arm to shield himself.

"Stop it! Leave him alone you bastard!" Alex screamed.

Carr didn't stop; the kicks kept coming. After a particularly vicious one to his head, Trivette finally blacked out.

When he woke up, he was propped up against a wall, a quick look around ensured him that he hadn't been moved out of Alex's room. As he became more alert, he was aware of the fact that his arms were wrenched painfully behind him; his right shoulder felt like it was on fire. They were tied tightly; he couldn't get either hand free. He was also gagged; the cloth was knotted behind his head. He could still feel the makeshift tourniquet Alex had tied around his leg. It was bloodstained now, but the fact that he was conscious was a good sign.

He heard a muffled noise coming from somewhere to the right of him. He looked over and saw Alex kneeling on the floor in the corner. She too was bound and gagged, her eyes full of concern. She tried to speak, but the gag muffled her voice so much that what she said was indeterminable. Trivette nodded his head trying to indicate that he was alright. Alex scooted closer to him until they were sitting shoulder to shoulder, drawing strength from each other. Trivette wanted to assure her that everything would be okay, that Gage and Sydney would get them out of here safely but he couldn't. But although he couldn't say it, he truly did believe it. He had complete faith in them.

* * *

Outside, Gage, Sydney, and Walker were plotting their entrance. Carr had said that if he saw anyone approaching the house, he would "kill her too." Kill her too. Those words echoed in all three heads; was Trivette already dead? No one wanted to believe it, in fact, all of them refused to believe. They'd agreed after the phone call that they would operate under the assumption that Carr still had two hostages at his disposal. They'd gotten hold of the blueprints of the mansion and were intently studying them now.

"We'll wait until nightfall." Walker decided. "The three of us will go in alone."

"What, and split up once we get inside?" Gage asked. "We don't know where in the house they are, Walker. We can't just wander around until we find them."

"We don't have any better options." Sydney pointed out. "We can't just phone up there and ask where Carr is holding Trivette and Alex."

"Fine. But we stay together. We're not going to risk anyone else getting hurt." Gage said adamantly.

"Alright. We'll enter from the side of the house, here." Walker pointed at the blueprints. "We'll take out the sentries as we come across them and clear the bottom level first. We'll move up from there."

Gage and Sydney nodded their agreement.

"No live fire." Sydney said. "Unless it's absolutely necessary. We don't want to alert Carr in any way; we can't risk it."

"Alright. We've got about an hour or so until it gets dark. We need to brief the locals, let them know what's going on." Walker said.

Gage and Sydney split up to brief those who needed to be briefed, leaving Walker alone with his thoughts.

"I'm coming for you Alex. I swear I am. I won't let you down again."

* * *

The hour passed slowly, the minutes ticking by one by one. Finally, finally, it was time. Walker, Gage, and Sydney gathered together near the side of the house. Quickly and silently they made their way around the house where there was a side door. Sydney jammed her elbow into the glass and broke one of the panes, reaching her hand through the door to unlock it. They were in.

Carr was in the kitchen with Dale when he heard it. Breaking glass. There wasn't much noise, but he heard it nonetheless. He smiled.

"They're coming in." he told Dale. "You know what to do. Get everybody down here and take them down. Make it hurt."

Dale nodded once and took off, leaving Carr alone in the kitchen. Carr knew there was no way out of this except through it. He would take down each and every person who entered his home, without mercy. But in the meantime, he had something much more enjoyable to take care of.

* * *

Alex and Trivette knew something was going on. They heard lots of footsteps from above them and outside the door. Something big was happening. They sat tensely, unable to communicate verbally or defend themselves in any way. Trivette felt Alex jump when the door to her room flew open.

Jamie Carr was standing there with a crazed look in his eye. He pointed one shaking finger at Trivette.

"They know you're here. They're coming for you. Tell me, does that make you feel better?" Carr paused, waiting for an answer that Trivette couldn't give. "Well, let me tell you something, Ranger. They won't make it. I've got my men all lined up to take them down, one by one. I will take them down myself if I have to."

Alex shook her head and glared. She'd been in this position before and Walker had always come for her. She remembered what Jimmy had said, that Walker was gone. But somehow, she knew Walker wouldn't let her down. And if he wouldn't come for her, Gage and Sydney most certainly would.

"You don't think so?" Carr jeered. "You have that much faith in those goons outside?" he laughed. "Trust me, I could take on any of them, in fact, I look forward to it. But you know, there are plenty of other people that can take care of that for me while I deal with the more desirable tasks."

He was at Alex's side in an instant, one hand wrapped in her hair. He yanked her to her feet and she stumbled. Trivette tried to stand but his leg gave out and he fell painfully to the floor without the ability to break the fall with his hands. He lay on the floor, trying to sum up the energy to stand up again. He hadn't realized just how much blood he'd lost until now; he was incredibly weak. The gag wasn't helping matters, as he couldn't get a full breath in through his mouth. Carr was dragging Alex out of the room and though she was putting up a valiant fight, he was much stronger than she. Carr slammed the door behind them with one last taunting look at Trivette, who was unable to do anything about it.

* * *

Alex stumbled along corridor after corridor and up a flight of stairs. Carr still had his fist wrapped in her hair and it hurt like hell. She'd tried to kick him once or twice but all that had done was make her lose her balance more. She'd tried screaming; Carr had said that people were in the house already, but the knotted cloth in her mouth made that difficult. Any noise she made was extremely muffled and unintelligible. And so she stumbled along as thousands of thoughts ran through her head. The most ironic one was the realization that she didn't want to die. For the eight months she'd been trapped here, she'd wished for someone or something to take her away, to save her. At first, she'd wished for Walker but after seeing that fateful news conference and knowing that they'd buried a body under her name, she'd known that no one was coming. And so she'd wished for death. She hadn't cared which way it would come, whether in her sleep or from a gun pointed at her face. Death would be better than being kept here as a slave. She'd gone so far as to contemplate suicide, dreaming of using one of the knives in the kitchen or raiding Carr's medicine cabinet. Anything to get her out of this place.

But now things were different. People knew she was alive. There was another way out now. Someone was coming for her. And so the wishes of the past eight months disappeared in an instant as she stumbled along after Carr, all the way to a far corner of the house, where he stopped and wrenched open a door. Alex felt her eyes widen when she looked inside and she struggled more desperately. They were in Carr's bedroom.

She screamed through the gag and Carr shoved her forward, knocking her onto the bed. The tears spilled out as Carr flipped her over onto her back and pressed his mouth to her neck. He seemed frenzied now; he ripped his shirt open and shrugged it off. Putting his mouth near her ear he whispered, "I've wanted to do this for a long time." He ended the statement with a series of soft kisses that traveled across her jaw line. Alex twisted her body from side to side and kicked her legs but Carr was on top of her now and she couldn't get herself out from under him.

She screamed as loud as she could, though that wasn't very loud at all, even after Carr slapped her and told her to stay quiet. She screamed Walker's name over and over, begging him to come save her. But the little voice in her head was telling her that even if by some miracle Walker did show up, there wasn't much chance he would get to her in time.

* * *

The door they entered through led to a sitting room of some kind. It was empty, though the three Rangers could hear footsteps echoing throughout the house.

"They're ready for us." Gage whispered.

"We're ready for them." Sydney whispered back. "Come on Francis, show some spine." She grinned and bumped her hip against his. He smiled back, but sobered as he saw a shadowy figure crossing the room toward them. Before he could blink, Walker had pounced and had the man in a sleeper hold, he was unconscious within seconds.

"Let's keep going." Walker instructed, leading the way.

They exited the sitting room and entered a dining room, which was empty, then the kitchen, which was also empty, but bore the remains of a hastily abandoned late night snack. Somehow, they knew the Rangers were in the house.

Sydney sensed someone behind her and turned just in time. The assailant had his gun raised and was about to fire; he didn't get the chance because Sydney tackled him to the ground and bashed his head against the floor until he too lost consciousness. They didn't want any shots fired, that would give away their position.

The Rangers traveled from room to room, staying together as Gage had insisted, and taking down the sentries Carr had posted throughout the house. Nine unconscious men later, they arrived at the final room on the first floor. It was at the end of a long hallway, which gave them no cover should someone start firing from behind them. They proceeded with caution, Gage in front moving forward, with Walker and Sydney behind him facing backward. They moved cautiously but quickly. Just before Gage reached the door a large, burly man leapt out at the end of the hallway, his semi-automatic weapon in hand. He laid on the trigger and the Rangers fell into a crouched position. They had no choice but to fire back and did so with a vengeance. The attacker stumbled backward under the force of the bullets and eventually fell; the gun clattered to the floor next to him. Sydney moved to check his pulse; there wasn't one. She did recognize him though; his name was Dale and he was Carr's right hand. He'd also been involved in the home invasion attacks, according to what they'd heard Carr say on the phone earlier. Keeping her gun up, Sydney made her way back to Walker and Gage.

Hyperaware of the fact that they'd found neither Trivette nor Alex yet, Gage picked the lock on the door and thrust it open. Trivette was there, lying on the floor, bound and gagged. He was conscious, though covered in blood. Sydney kept watch while Walker and Gage untied him and rolled him over.

Trivette smiled. "Walker, man, what took you so long?"

Walker smiled too, a genuine smile, his first in a long time. "What can I say Trivit, my head wasn't screwed on straight." The partners clasped hands and for a minute, everything was back to normal. Well, almost.

"Where's Alex?" Walker asked, masking his anxiety.

Trivette's smile faded. "He took her. Carr took her. I tried to stop him Walker, I swear."

"Shh, it's okay. You did everything you could." Walker turned to Gage and Sydney. "Get him out of here, to the medics."

Gage started to protest but Walker shot him down. "Gage, listen to me, I've got to find Alex. I'm not leaving without her." Walker was adamant.

"Alright. You got it boss." He said with no further protest. He and Sydney helped Trivette stand, though he did so with immense difficulty. He wrapped his good arm around Gage's shoulder and cradled the other to his chest. Sydney wrapped her arms around his waist and took some of the weight off of his feet. Slowly, they shuffled out of the room; they didn't make it far before Trivette stopped.

"Walker, you've got to get to her. I promised her I'd get her out of here." He said, almost pleading.

Walker nodded once and disappeared into the shadows of the house, creeping up the staircase to his right. He kept his gun holstered; he wanted to take this bastard down with his hands. The stairs ended at a long hallway. Sounds of a struggle emerged from a room on the end. He heard muffled screams and a man's voice. Breaking into a run he made it to the door of the room in less than ten seconds. He paused there for a split second, taking in the picture before him.

Alex was on her back on a huge bed in the center of the room. She was gagged like Trivette had been and her hands were pinned behind her back. Jamie Carr was on top of her, shirtless, with both hands wedged up Alex's dress.

With so many emotions fueling him, Walker hit Carr harder than he'd ever hit anyone before; digging his shoulder into his gut and throwing both of them off the bed and onto the floor. Walker got to his feet first, but Carr was right behind him.

"I've waited a long time for this Walker." Carr hissed.

"Not half as long as I have you son of a bitch." Walker answered.

Carr jabbed and Walker swerved, landing a fist into Carr's stomach. Carr grunted, but rallied with a swift uppercut to Walker's jaw that made his ears ring. Carr was dancing now, hopping from one foot to the other, getting cocky. Walker took advantage by faking to the right and aiming a left hook at the side of Carr's head. It made a satisfying crunching noise, and Carr was put off balance. Walker broke his nose next with a neat jab that sent a howl of pain through Carr's body. He lunged again and missed, Walker tripped him and he fell to the floor, though he got up albeit slowly. Walker wasn't finished with him yet. His roundhouse kick sent Carr flying and made him crash through a large picture window that took the place of one of the walls in the room. Carr screamed as he fell to the ground, landing headfirst on the concrete driveway below. His head was at an odd angle with his body; his neck had snapped cleanly on impact. Jamie Carr was dead.

* * *

When Walker had come barreling into the room, Alex hadn't believed it was real. How could he be here? Hadn't Jimmy told her that he left? And then those thoughts were pushed aside as she realized that no matter the odds, Walker had always come through for her; he always would.

She'd rolled off the bed as the fight had progressed, backing herself into a corner, unable to tear her eyes away. When Carr went through the window and Walker turned toward her, she knew he was dead, she could see it in Walker's eyes. And she felt no remorse, no guilt, nothing but satisfaction that the man who had terrorized her for eight long months was dead.

And then Walker was in front of her, moving slowly, not wanting to frighten her. He gently reached his hands around the back of her head to untie the cloth Dale had put there to keep her quiet. He took it off and threw it to the ground. Even with it gone, she couldn't speak. The emotions were too much for her to handle and she was silent as Walker placed his hands gently on her shoulders and spun her around so he could untie her hands. When they were free, she rubbed her wrists and turned to face her husband.

Walker's eyes were wet as they searched Alex's eyes for some sign of what to do next. All he wanted to do was sweep her up and hold her forever. But before he could do that, there was something he needed to say to her, to make her understand.

"Alex," he whispered, pressing a shaking hand to her cheek, "I'm so sorry."

A new batch of tears started down her cheeks. "Oh, Walker." She whispered back and stepped closer to him, wrapping his arms around her neck. "I hoped you would come for me."

"I'll always be there for you." Walker said, wrapping his arms around her thin waist and holding her tight. "Forever."

Alex didn't want to let go of him, but she made herself do it. "Is Jimmy alright?"

"He's fine. Gage and Sydney took him out."

Alex nodded. "Good."

"Let's get out of here." Walker said.

Alex nodded her agreement and took a few steps forward, stumbling somewhat from the adrenaline, she was shaking all over. She fell against Walker, who hadn't let go of her and who now scooped her up into his arms and carried her easily out of the room.

It felt so right to be in his arms again, so safe and secure and Alex pressed her head down to his chest, taking in his scent, the scent she'd taken for granted when she could smell it on a daily basis. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the gentle rocking motion she experienced as he walked down the stairs, stepping over unconscious bodies wherever necessary.

She opened her eyes but didn't move when she felt the fresh air hit her face. It was dark out and she was grateful for it. She didn't want her bruises thrown into sunlight where everyone could see them. Reluctantly, she asked Walker to put her down. She wanted to walk the rest of the way out of this house, out of this prison. She needed to do it.

She assured him that she was alright and he gently set her on her feet. She steadied herself and didn't shake off the arm that was still firmly wrapped around her waist. Together, they made their way to the ambulances that were waiting.

* * *

Gage and Sydney had made it outside with Trivette without any trouble. The paramedics had cleaned him up fairly well, though he needed the hospital without a doubt. He'd refused to go though, until Walker and Alex got out of the house. He was just about to send Sydney and Gage back in there when he saw Walker emerge, carrying Alex. From the immediate silence on either side of him, he gathered that Gage and Sydney had seen them too. Alex looked so small curled up in Walker's arms, but when he put her down she stood tall. They made their way to where Trivette's stretcher was located, with Gage and Sydney standing on either side. Sydney was already crying at the sight of her best friend; seeing her for the first time in eight months was one moment she would never forget. Gage blinked his tears back, though he too was experiencing a heightened level of emotion he hadn't felt since he'd rescued Julie.

When Walker and Alex were right in front of the stretcher, Alex smiled. "Hi." Was her introduction and it was all the prompting they needed. Sydney reached out and took Alex into her arms and the two women embraced.

"I missed you." Sydney whispered into Alex's ear. "So much."

"I missed you too." Alex said, pulling back. "I missed all of you." She turned to Gage, who was waiting for her to make the first move. The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable. But when she held out her arms for a hug, he swooped right in and nearly picked her up off the ground with his bear hug. Alex laughed. "You haven't changed."

When Gage had finally set her back down, Alex turned to Trivette. "How are you Jimmy?"

"Ah, I'm fine. You know how it goes." Trivette answered.

Alex bent down and gave him a gentle hug, careful not to exacerbate his injuries. "Thank you." She whispered.

He kissed her on the cheek in reply.

"Come on, let's get you checked out." Walker said.

Knowing that all protest was futile, Alex allowed herself to be ushered to the nearest ambulance.

"See you at the hospital." Walker said to his partners.

* * *

The night passed in a blur. Alex was given a thorough examination and a passable bill of health by the doctor, who'd insisted she work on building her weight back up but also get a lot of rest. The bruises would heal in time, but the doctor gave her some painkillers in case the pain got too bad. Trivette's injuries were more substantial; he needed to stay put for a few nights.

They'd gathered in his private room as Alex talked through her experience. It felt good to get things out, to admit the fear and hopelessness she'd felt for so long. It especially felt good to be among her family again, those who would never abandon her, no matter how dismal things looked.

Sydney explained her theory about the body they'd buried in Alex's place. It was credible and could be checked out as soon as they received permission from the victim's brother to exhume her body.

The five talked for hours about everything that had happened during the last eight months. During the course of the conversation, Walker realized that this was exactly where he wanted, and needed, to be. Preferably forever. And so, he agreed to ask the Commissioner for his job back, provided they still wanted him.

* * *

The doctors shooed them out a few hours later, which was just as well as everyone was exhausted. They were almost out of Trivette's room when Walker realized that they had no place to stay; the ranch had been burned down eight months ago and no one had been around to oversee the reconstruction.

"We'll go find a hotel for the night." He told Alex.

"You'll do no such thing." Trivette smiled, slurring his words because of the morphine.

"Well, what exactly to you suggest we do Trivit?" Walker asked jokingly.

Sydney and Gage shared a look. "We think you should go home." Sydney said. Gage dug in his pocket and pulled out a key. He dropped it into Walker's hand.

"What's this?" Walker asked.

"We had the ranch rebuilt." Gage admitted.

"We figured that if or when you came back, you could either move back in, or sell it or whatever." Sydney said, bouncing on the balls of her feet anxiously.

"You guys, that's amazing." Alex said, her eyes welling up again. "Thank you so much."

"Do you want to go back there?" Walker asked. "If you're not comfortable, we can go somewhere else."

"Absolutely." Sydney agreed. "You're not going to offend anyone."

"We're not easily offended." Gage added.

"Yeah, especially you, you buffoon." Sydney joked.

"No, guys, listen. I appreciate the concern, but the ranch is our home." Alex started. "This terrible thing happened to us there, but we have the chance to make so many new memories." She looked at Walker. "Is that okay with you?"

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Walker agreed, and turned to thank Trivette again, but he was already asleep. Goodbyes were made as Gage and Sydney headed to their respective cars.

"Are you ready to head home?" Walker asked Alex.

"You have no idea." She said, and laughed.

Home was a place where she could heal, where she could feel safe, even after everything that had happened. A place where she could be with Walker for the rest of their lives.

* * *

Sydney was just climbing into bed when she heard a knock at the door. She debated not answering it, but decided against it; it could be important.

She opened the door and found Gage standing there, a sheepish look on his face. He was carrying several takeout boxes from the restaurant down the street.

"Hey Shorty." He said softly.

"Gage! Is everything okay?" Sydney asked.

"Oh, yeah! Everything's fine. I just…can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure."

She shut the door behind him and found him in the kitchen, unpacking the boxes of food.

"Gage, listen-"

"Sydney, I love you." Gage blurted.

"What?" Sydney couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Syd, I've loved you since our first undercover assignment together. I love everything about you. When we weren't talking, those were some of the hardest days of my life Syd. I don't know what your feelings for me are, but I wanted to get things out in the open. I'm totally messing this up right now because this is not how I planned to tell you, but I just thought, you know, that you needed to know. Sydney? Say something. Syd?" Gage rambled.

"Gage, I don't know what to say." Sydney said honestly.

"Oh…okay. Well, good. Sorry then, I'll just be going." Gage said, trying to sort out his thoughts.

"Gage, wait, I don't want you to go." Sydney stepped closer to him now.

"Well, what do you want me to do Syd?"

She pressed her mouth to his ear. "I want you to make love to me." She whispered, pressing her body to his.

And then suddenly, it was her couch's turn to support their bodies, moving together in a rhythm only the two of them heard, being together in a way they'd been only once before. Except this time, it was for all the right reasons.


End file.
